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

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

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.