Sky Q update will add a huge app to its already meaty roster

News
By Rhys Wood
published

An app for an iconic channel is coming to Sky Q

Sky Q
(Image credit: Sky)

Great news for telly fans as an upcoming Sky Q update will add an ITV Hub app to its long list of channels. Sky Q subscribers will be able to browse ITV content in its entirety, including popular shows like The Pembrokeshire Murders, Coronation Street and Love Island.

As reported by Pocket Lint, the ITV Hub app comes to Sky Q as part of a deal between Sky and ITV. This gives Sky Q owners access to the app, as well as more targeted advertising based on user preferences. Sky has previously penned similar deals with Channel 4 and the BBC, with the addition of ITV Hub rounding out the UK terrestrial TV presence on Sky Q.

ITV head Carolyn McCall said of the deal: “For ITV’s viewers, the partnership ensures that they have easy and widespread access to our breadth of programmes, ensuring that they can view ITV’s content in the most convenient and appropriate way to them."

Sky was similarly enthusiastic about the ITV Hub deal, with CEO Stephen van Rooyen stating: "ITV has been a longstanding partner to Sky and we are pleased to be deepening and extending our relationship. The great content provided by ITV will sit together with all the apps and content our customers love, and the ever-expanding slate of award-winning Sky Originals, all in one place on Sky Q." 

A match made in heaven?

Sky Q’s addition of ITV Hub makes a lot of sense when you look at the numbers the streaming app’s been pulling in. ITV Hub has well over 34 million registered users, around 452,000 of which subscribe to the Hub+ service that does away with those pesky advertisements.

Also, with a renewed Channel 4 partnership under its belt, as well as recent deals confirmed with the BBC and Disney Plus, Sky shows it’s committed to making Sky Q a one-stop solution for some of the most popular streaming apps out there. The service also features more novelty apps like Fiit, Discovery+ and Peloton, giving Sky Q users something more proactive than your average streaming platform.

Sky Q has quite the advantage here, then, as it can be difficult to collect all these apps under one convenient roof, unless they're already featured as part of your smart TV's operating system.

Sky is also catching up in the realm of picture quality, with HDR recently being supported for a range of Sky Q-hosted content. Whether ITV Hub will make use of HDR remains to be seen, but who doesn’t want to see the rolling countryside hills of Emmerdale rendered in stunningly lush green?

Rhys Wood
Rhys Wood
Hardware Editor

Rhys is TRG's Hardware Editor, and has been part of the TechRadar team for more than two years. Particularly passionate about high-quality third-party controllers and headsets, as well as the latest and greatest in fight sticks and VR, Rhys strives to provide easy-to-read, informative coverage on gaming hardware of all kinds. As for the games themselves, Rhys is especially keen on fighting and racing games, as well as soulslikes and RPGs.