Sky Cinema 4K channel coming to Italy

Date:
Mon, 17 Jan 2022 16:40:33 +0000

Description:
Could a dedicated 4K movie channel ever arrive for UK Sky viewers?

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Sky Italia will launch Sky Cinema 4K on January 28, with the new channel acting as a dedicated home in the TV Guide for the services 4K movie content. Itll be exclusive to the 4K-ready Sky Q set-top box, and to customers who pay the premium for accessing ultra-high-definition movies.

120 films, including Ghostbusters, The Amazing Spider-Man and F9 (Fast and Furious 9), will be available to watch on the new channel, scheduled throughout the day.

This format differs from how Sky offers 4K content in the UK, where Sky Q customers instead access 4K movies through on-demand content pages in the Sky Q interface, and download them over a broadband connection.

Its TechRadars understanding that Sky Cinema 4K in Italy will instead broadcast its shows over a satellite connection (in addition to offering on-demand downloads) in the same way Skys current 4K sports output works
weve contacted Sky for clarification on this point. Analysis: Will Sky Cinema 4K come to the UK, and do we need it?

It would appear that Sky Italia has taken the decision to serve 4K content over satellite to get around the limitations posed by slower broadband speeds across the country. Looking at Italys median broadband speeds as recorded on the popular speedtest.net service measuring site , the download speed average for November 2021 was 34.53Mbps, making it rank 49 in the sites global index.

By comparison, the United Kingdom scores a 47Mbps median average speed, putting it in 32nd place. Both are perfectly serviceable speeds for 4K streaming, but its worth noting that Sky Q doesnt offer streaming, instead serving 4K films as downloads and those with speeds significantly lower than the average might have quite a wait before their films download, making a satellite broadcast an instant 4K fix by comparison. (Netflix, Disney Plus
and Amazon Prime Video do offer 4K streaming on Sky Q, but within their own distinct apps).

Its interesting to note here that the recent launch of Sky Glass , Skys television set with Sky streaming content built in, is a completely dishless approach to serving up its channels. It instead relies on the viewers
internet connection to deliver standard, high- and ultra-high-definition content to the users TV, and is indicative of Skys longer term plans in this regard.

Broadly speaking then, the UKs broadband speeds are fast enough that, for many, a dedicated 4K satellite channel isnt required, and an
over-the-internet approach may even be more stable. But for those living in broadband slow-spots, a satellite option for 4K movies would likely be welcome. Likewise, for those moments when broadband access inevitably fails, having a satellite fallback would help to bolster the services reliability. Its not a necessity therefore, but it would still be nice to have the channel as an option for UK viewers.

Weve contacted Sky for comment on how and why Sky Italia is going down this route for its 4K cinema content, and well update this article if we hear back from the company. Sky Q review : the best set top box we've tested



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/sky-cinema-4k-channel-coming-to-italy/


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