What Does Sky Think The Future Of TV Will Look Like?

Ever since TV was introduced to the world by the Scottish inventor John Logie Baird in 1926, the format has undergone constant change. We’ve seen more channels, the shift to colour, the rise of digital, built in DVR capabilities, the first 720p broadcasts, the first full-HD broadcasts, 3D, on demand streaming and much more. It’s been an explosive rate of evolution, but recent years have been technological change come almost wholesale, with TV programmes no longer limited to the big box in your living room, but available at any time on almost any device you’re using. Time, however, waits for no technology, and as we march steadily into the future, we begin to wonder, what does the future of TV look like? There are few companies better placed to tell us than Sky, so what do they think?

The first part of Sky’s vision for the future of TV isn’t particularly revolutionary, nor is it unheard of in 2015 – 4K. It’s a young technology, but one which is already gaining significant momentum, with almost every TV manufacturer now offering 4K TVs. For those that aren’t aware of the technology, it’s similar to the jump seen from SD to HD. So, whilst 1080p TV is broadcast at 1920 x 1080 pixels, 4K content is shown at 4096 x 2160. In short, that means that there’s more detail to the pictures you’re looking at, and a greater sense of realism. BT have already launched a 4K TV service in the UK in the form of BT Sport Ultra HD, but their service relies on fast broadband to stream programming live.

A service from Sky would likely utilise their satellite infrastructure to offer the world’s first over the air 4K TV service. Instead of hoping that your Internet connection was strong enough, you’d simply flip the channel and enjoy ultra-HD content instantly. It’s the kind of thing that’ll drive huge numbers to sign up via the Sky phone number, but that isn’t the end of it for Sky.

The next step, Sky have signalled, is a move into virtual reality. That technology, typically referred to as VR, has seen an explosion in popularity over the last few years, with the likes of Samsung, Valve, Facebook (via Oculus), Google and many others getting into the game. It involves slipping on an incredibly advanced headset, which completely fills your vision with high definition screens and perfectly tracks the movement of your head. That means, wherever you look, it seems like you’re there in person. At the same time, content companies like Jaunt are building live-action content that can be viewed through such headsets, and that’s where Sky see the future.

Sky have recently invested for a second time in Jaunt, and the two are actively developing content together, and looking forwards into the future of TV. This kind of technology will ultimately begin with short clips on things like NOW TV and Sky’s mobile applications, but it’s perfectly likely that we’ll see the technology extend to long-form video like programmes and films in short order. For a company like Sky, this kind of opportunity presents a number of advantages, not least the fact that when a user has a VR headset on, they simply can’t fail to be engaged in whatever adverts are being shown to them, making it a compelling platform for Sky Adsmart to sell air time on.

Beyond VR, the future of TV is a harder prospect to imagine, because the kinds of technologies that will revolutionise our TV watching experiences just haven’t been invented yet. But if there’s any company that can bring those technologies to our homes, whatever they are, it’s Sky.