If you watch your favourite channels, boxsets, movies and sports fixtures with Sky Go, you’ll be pleased to learn that a new update has brought a number of new features to the service. Sky Go is available on a wide variety of platforms, including iPhone and iPad, Mac, FireOS tablets, Windows 10, Android smartphones and tablets, Chromebook, and the Huawei AppGallery.
There’s also a dedicated app on PlayStation 4 and Xbox, although this one is inexplicably called TV from Sky, rather than Sky Go.
With the latest update, viewers on these platforms will be able to skip the advert breaks – so you can get straight into the episode. When watching on-demand shows on Sky Q, viewers can quickly fast-forward though the commercials placed before the start of the episode. However, that hasn’t been possible on Sky Go …until now. Just like the “Skip Advert” button on YouTube, a single on-screen prompt will let viewers jump into their show.
Loading an on-demand show for the first time, there will be a countdown… so it’s not possible to avoid all of the adverts, but you’ll still be able to save yourself some time. Better yet, if you’re streaming via a 4G or 5G mobile data connection, you’ll save some of your mobile allowance as you won’t be buffering adverts you’d rather not watch.
Unfortunately, Sky has warned that “some content is not ad skippable”, but hasn’t provided details on exactly when Sky Go viewers will be forced to sit though a full advert break. Of course, just like the satellite dish-powered Sky Q box, whenever you’re watching live television, you won’t be able to skip through the adverts.
Ad-skipping isn’t the only new addition. Sky Sports Recap allows you to stream highlights of a live sporting fixture while the match is still ongoing itself – perfect if you missed the start. Until now, this functionality was limited to the Sky Q box, but it’s now found in the Sky Go app for iOS devices. Android and desktop viewers will need to wait a little longer, but Sky promises the feature is on the way.
All Sky Go customers can also now download content for offline viewing, a feature that was previously reserved for those who paid for Sky Go Extra and Sky Q Multiscreen. And anyone can now stream on at least two screens instead of one, regardless of your subscription. So, you can stream a live football match on your iPad, while someone else streams their new favourite binge-watch on the train home at the same time.
Best of all? All of these updates are available right now.
Speaking about the list of new improvements, Fraser Stirling, Sky Group Chief Product Officer, said: “We’re continuing to make it even easier to enjoy the entertainment that matters to you”
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