Sorry for the shortness of this post, but I literally only found this out as I was running out the door to work this morning. I will complete a review and post some pics of it later on this evening.

Here is a photo of the new Sky Planner:

So far so good anyway, although I have found it to be a bit slow in places

The new EPG started rolling out to Sky+ HD boxes on March 10, with receivers manufactured by Thomson first to get the update, followed by customers with boxes manufactured by Pace in April. Last month, the satellite platform holder said that “additional and planned development work” was taking place before it could send the new guide to customers with Samsung and Amstrad boxes.

A Sky spokesperson has said that the firm is now ready to start contacting 30,000 customers with Samsung boxes about them upgrading to the new EPG. “The EPG migration is still on track and we’re delighted with the feedback we’ve received from those with the new Sky+ HD guide, which now includes those customers with Thomson and Pace boxes,” he said.

“We thank all other customers for their patience while we roll out with controlled phasing to all other boxes. We will continue to contact customers with more information prior to migrating them to the new guide, including 30,000 customers with Samsung boxes just next week.”

via Digital Spy

Setanta Sports recently lost the SPL rights after it had defaulted on a £3 million payment to the league. The broadcaster was in the final year of its contract with the league, while it had also agreed a new four-year deal at a reported cost of £125 million.

However, a source close to the deal told The Independent that the ESPN-Sky joint bid could be up to £40 million below that figure. Despite this, it is believed that the bid will be welcome news to the smaller SPL clubs, especially as the league previously relied heavily on Setanta for its TV income.

While not commenting directly on the bid, an ESPN spokesman said: “As we continue to say, we are interested in rights where they are available and where they make business sense. But as we’ve not confirmed whether we have or have not bid, clearly we have no comment on this new speculation”.

If the deal does go through, it is unclear as yet whether ESPN will be able to make the SPL content available on other TV platforms.

Meanwhile, Sky has this week agreed to continue carriage of Setanta Ireland so that negotiations can go ahead to save the sports broadcaster in the country.

via Digital Spy.

The green button is already used during some trails to allow viewers to book programme reminders. This functionality will now be extended to allow viewers to book longer-form advertising content into the Sky Guide or record content onto their Sky+ and Sky+ HD boxes.

“Throughout its history Sky has continually sought to innovate for advertisers and provide them with more choice and greater opportunities in reaching audiences in new and engaging ways,” said Chloe Smith, Sky Media’s head of interactive advertising. “Green Button provides brands with the opportunity to develop high-quality long-form content catering to those audiences who want a closer relationship with particular brands, or who would value access to exclusive content which has been developed or funded by an advertiser. And with the added functionality of Sky+, they can interact with those brands at a time of their choosing.”

Green button ad content will vary in length from 2 minutes to 2 hours, and could include extended edits of existing ads; a “behind the scenes” documentary showing how an ad was made; access to exclusive content; an mini-sodes of content related to an ad storyline.

The first campaigns to take advantage of the new functionality will be for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, McMillan Cancer Support, T-Mobile and Ice Age 3. 50 channels, including all in Sky’s wholly-owned portfolio, will carry the service.

Images available via Digital Spy

The application offers a view of Sky’s 7 day electronic programme guide, searchable by time, day and programme name. A “record” option sends a request to Sky’s system, which in turn sets up the recording on an owner’s Sky+ or Sky+ HD box via satellite. The option must be used at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the programme.

“Whether you’re stuck at work, in the pub or gym, or have simply forgotten to record something, this free application is perfect for those situations when you hear about a TV show and want to record it there and then,” said a Sky spokesperson.

More Sky+ HD boxes received the new version of Sky’s programme guide software last Thursday morning. According to reports posted on the Digital Spy forums in the early hours of this morning, Sky+ HD boxes manufactured by Thomson with version number 4E3004 rebooted with the new software close to 4am. 38,000 boxes were the first to receive the new software on Tuesday, March 10. It is not yet known how many boxes were affected by this morning’s release.

The installers couldn’t get the HD channels working, but they said they rang sky and the signal would be sent in the usual time frame, could be 2 mins could be a couple of hours. I want that bothered then as I had to rush back to work. When I got home it was still the same, but also the Sky+ functionality wasnt working. (Oh no, Neighbours hasn’t recorded)

So I rang sky myself. On hold for about 9 mins. The girl I was talking to was extremely helpful and had everything sorted within 90 seconds, including the usual security questions etc. While on hold I had to listen to the repeating drivel about how rain and wind can affect your signal reception and basically that sky cannot help you if this is your problem

Anyway, Sky+ working, HD channels coming in loud and clear, very clear actually. Picture is amazing. Its currently running on the 1080i setting. I dont know which is better, 1080i or 720p, and I dont think I would be able to tell the difference anyway.

I have tuned in the BBC HD channel and I have watched a few minutes of this and a quick clip from 24 also. I am well impressed with the HD stuff and I think even the SD stuff is improved by using the HDMI connection too.

But is it worth the €15 or whatever it is a month, only time will tell!

1) Set up series links directly from the TV Guide.

2) Record directly from the TV Guide without needing to go to the Planner.

3) The new planner makes searching for recorded episodes from a series easier by “stacking” them.

4) The new Now, Next, Later banner is capable of showing full programme data for any show on any channel up to 12 hours ahead.

via here

ITV’s high definition service launched as a service exclusive to Freesat last year, using a non-standard stream to obfuscate its availability on non-Freesat satellite receivers.

The new version of Sky’s electronic programme guide was rolled out to 38,000 boxes yesterday and will be rolled out to all high definition boxes over the coming weeks.

Digital Spy previewed the new EPG release last May, and it is understood that several features have been tweaked and added since that version. It is designed to make the plethora of linear HD content more navigable and lay the groundwork for the delivery of on demand content via broadband, which is a “core” element of Sky’s future development plans.

“We are ramping up for its imminent launch,” said Sky’s director of strategic product development Gerry O’Sullivan. “We haven’t changed our EPG for a long time. We are very sensitive in keeping all the navigation paradigms and the user interface of our current world-class EPG. How do you improve something and not break that? It’s been a very interesting project.

“There was no rush for us. We decided to get it as good as we possibly can, and what we’ve got now is really going to blow the audience away.”

via Digital Spy.