Sky's 'iOS 7 moment' is just weeks away

Sky's 'iOS 7 moment' is just weeks away
Sky's new EPG - coming soon

Sky's rollout of its new EPG is just weeks away and it is bringing such sweeping changes to the guide that it is calling the redesign its 'iOS 7' moment.

At an exclusive journalist event in London, Sky's Stephen van Rooyen went through the big evolution of Sky's new main planner page and how it ties in with the growing focus in on-demand.

"The guys in our tech group think of this as our iOS 7 moment because it's an entirely new reboot," said van Rooyen, the managing director of sales marketing and brand group.

"It puts on-demand on the same level as live channels making things faster and easier to find and allowing you to go straight into search. We'll roll this out in the next couple of weeks."

Forward features

Looking further forward, Sky also teased a number of future features that are set to arrive later this year - including a recommendation engine and also a perpetual season link.

The latter will make sure you record your favourite shows when they arrive back on television after mid-season breaks or for a new series, something that is set to be a popular arrival.

"I would like to 'fire and forget' on a series link and we're now going to create that - when you series link it will record all future series and that's a step forward for us," added van Rooyen.

"[Recommendations] are going to be on the homepage on the new tab down at the bottom. The series tab will promo the upcoming shows.

"The most effective way to do recommendations is by looking at what's on your planner."

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.