Sky has announced a Now TV set top box which aims to transform your average telly into a Smart TV, and the best part is that it costs just £9.99.
Launched in conjunction with the company’s on demand streaming service Now TV, the box connects to your TV via HDMI and to your home broadband via Wi-Fi in order to stream content from the web.
The box will of course provide access to Sky’s own Now TV, which requires a monthly subscription and offers a catalogue of movies and TV shows to stream on demand. You’ll also get access to BBC iPlayer, Demand 5 and also Sky Sports and Sky Movies, the latter two being possible through subscriptions with Sky.
The Now TV box isn’t just for streaming however, and also offers a number of apps including Sky News, BBC News, Spotify, Facebook and Flickr. We suspect that these apps will be rather basic, as the supplied remote only offers very basic navigation keys, but nevertheless, for the price it’s probably the cheapest way to make your TV ‘smart’.
New apps will be added in the future, says Sky, although we don’t see any rival on demand services like Lovefilm and Netflix joining the party. Other on demand services from broadcasters is certainly possible though, so we may see the likes of 4od and ITV Player coming along later.
The box itself is tiny, measuring just 84 x 84 x 24mm, and can be ordered via Sky online. The box costs £9.99 and an optional subscription to Sky Now will set you back £8.99 for the first three months and £15 per month thereafter, with a free 30 days thrown in at the start. Access to the apps and other streaming services is free!
Sky’s Now TV box joins Google’s recently announced Chromecast dongle in the race to make your TV ‘smart’ on the cheap.