Sky unveils nifty online TV listings

Sky has unveiled its new interactive online TV listings – and we have to admit that it looks like a pretty nifty way of managing your viewing habits.

Offering searchable listings and a draggable GUI that lets you breeze through the gazillions of channels available, it’s already a nice little service. But the real plus point for Sky subscribers is the remote record functionality.

Easy record

With the minimum of fuss and just a couple of clicks (one for record and one to confirm) those people who have enabled remote recording on their set-top box can tell their Sky+ to make sure it’s got the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica.

Remote recording is nothing new to Sky, but the new guide does offer perhaps the most user-friendly way yet of controlling a PVR from the internet.

You can also set up user preferences like favourite channels and see what similar programmes are suggested when you confess to your love of Lost.

Flexibility and interactivity of the web

Gerry O’Sullivan, director of Strategic Product Development, said: "With such a huge choice of TV programmes and channels now available, viewers need better search functionality to access programme information quickly and easily.

"By investing in the most innovative EPG available anywhere in the UK, we have given all UK viewers the ability to customise the service in line with their own viewing preferences, which means that they can plan their week’s viewing in a few simple clicks.

"And the additional benefit for Sky customers is that they can add their choices directly to their TV planner via remote record.

"We have harnessed the best of the flexibility and interactivity of the web with the best of TV, in an integrated way. In the future, we will look at embedding even more functionality into the service, as well as offering direct access to online video content."

Available for all

A glimpse of the future? Well obviously we’d prefer to be able to actually stream our recordings to our PC direct from our PVR in a SlingBox kind of way – but this certainly is a nice little addition for Sky.

The episode guide is also available for everyone, Sky subscriber or not.