Sky's Buy and Keep gives you a proper digital copy, suddenly makes sense

Sky's Buy and Keep service. Now we get it...
Sky's Buy and Keep service. Now we get it...

Sky's Buy and Keep service has taken a giant leap forward by finally allowing you a digital edition that you can download to your device.

The whole concept was utterly baffling to us when it was announced due to the lack of a true digital copy, but has been a curiously big hit for Sky even so and is now shaping itself into a very interesting service.

Basically the service now allows you to buy, quickly and through your box or app, a movie that you can watch, stream, download etc over your various devices (through the Sky Store app) plus watch on your set top box and also receive a boxed DVD of that film.

Digital doubts

This appeals to the digital doubters and those who like to stock their shelves with their favourite/every movie, with prices currently ranging between £7.99 and £13.99.

It's a huge step for Sky's service, and should that physical copy embrace the Blu-ray revolution it could become an even bigger deal.

The downside is that you'll have to watch your digital edition through Sky's Store app (you download to the app and it appears in My Library), which raises the spectre of Sky shuttering the service at some point, but it is available in HD when the device/OS is capable of supporting the format.

For existing Buy & Keep customers who have already used the service on their Sky+HD box, all of the movies they have bought will automatically appear in My Library in the app, ready to stream or download.

And we're promised that the service will expand to TV and movie boxsets in the future

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.