Do you really need one of Sky's new boxes?

Sky's new TV-streaming hardware is a long-overdue upgrade, but you might want to look at other options.

- PETER GRIFFIN

'Pay TV and baseball are the only things I know anything about," John Fellet, who founded Sky TV in 1991 and ran it for nearly 30 years, was fond of saying.

At least he knew his limitations. Fellet had a blind spot when it came to recognising the threat posed to his pay-TV empire by the internet. He dismissed Netflix as a flash in the pan. No one could match the generous mix of content Sky offered, or so he thought.

The subsequent exodus of subscribers to streaming platforms proved him wrong and nearly ended Sky. The company survived, thanks only to the inertia of subscribers who didn't have a smart TV, and Sky's ability to outbid Spark Sports for key sports broadcasting rights.

Admittedly, Sky has radically improved its streaming game since Fellet's departure, but its new internet-enabled hardware devices show that it still isn't totally at home in the streaming world.

Sensible decisions have been made with the Sky Box and Sky Pod, the two devices that will eventually replace the chunky, decade-old Sky decoders sitting in many living rooms. The devices are based on Android TV, a versatile software system with a wide range of compatible apps, the ability to log in with a Google account and the Google voice assistant built into the remote. As Chromecast devices, you can cast apps and content from your phone to your TV screen.

The sleek white boxes and remote controls incorporate good hardware design and are ready to deliver video content in 4K the highest quality, which Sky doesn't yet stream its content in. Last week, I installed the Sky Pod internet-streaming device for a neighbour. The process was a breeze. It took longer to find the Sky and Google log-in credentials than to physically install the Sky Pod and upgrade the software.

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