Sky+ Idea

This blog posting came about as a result of a phone conversation I had with my friend Duncan yesterday.

Duncan and I were discussing pvr boxes, and the natural leader in the UK Sky and their Sky+ box.

One of the impressive features of the Sky+ box is the series link. Basically you select a program to record and then hit the series link button. Which when it records the program selected it will automatically set itself up to record the next program in the series. Which it will keep doing either until the series ends or you tell it not.

This is so handy because it means you don't have to remember to record the next program in the series. It's done for you.

However there is the problem of missing the start of a series when it returns. This can happen, especially if you do not visit a channel regularly except when you are watching a series. This happens to me a lot for E4 and Living. On E4 I watch Smallville, on Living Greys Anatomy and Criminal Minds. When I am following those series is the only time I go to those channels. So when a series comes to an end, I often miss when it starts up again. It has happened for Greys Anatomy season 4. I have missed most of it now.

So why can't Sky implement something like iTunes/RSS for following a series? With RSS I subscribe to a program when ever a new episode is released I never miss it. Doesn't matter how long the gap is between seasons, I get the new episode when ever it is available.

Surely it wouldn't be hard for Sky to produce similar functionality for tv programs on their planner.

They could have two feeds. One for new episodes and a second for repeats. That way I wouldn't miss an episode again. What a great selling point that would be to Joe Public.

You could argue that the tv channels wouldn't like it. But at the moment they have lost a viewer because I have stopped going to their channel and decided to either get the episodes on-line or hire/buy the dvd box set. At least with this "amazing" idea of mine they get to keep a viewer. Which after all is the important thing if they are selling advertising.