Scrolling through the films and series being served by all the television broadcasters and streaming services available on Sky Glass, it is clear to see why Sky has opted to release its first television.

With the launch of Sky Glass on August 25, the Comcast-owned broadcaster is seeking to set itself apart from linear broadcasters and streamers by moving beyond satellite dishes and set-top boxes and into televisions.

Fraser Stirling, global chief product officer for Comcast and Sky, said the group couldn't hope to rival heavy hitters such as Samsung and Sharp, who produce nearly 100 different models per year, but that Sky Glass has been developed in response to evidence of consumers trying to bundle their services and subscriptions.

"This as an experience, the time is right," he said, adding that over the past two to four years, people have started to try and solve their own problems.

"The benefit of Netflix and Disney and even RTÉ, BBC and ITV channels all going direct to consumer is the ability to add more choice of content on your terms. But with that has come paralysis by analysis. There's so much choice, how would I find where things are?

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Sky Glass, he says, has been designed to remind consumers that googling where to watch their favourite shows is not normal and that, as a producer of content and an established platform for those rival services, it was well placed to develop televisions, especially with the growing availability of screen technology.

"We can do it now. We can provide this in a way to customers that is incredibly cost effective," Stirling added.

Sky Glass sets comes in three sizes - small (43"), medium (55") and large (65") - and can be purchased in full upfront or with monthly payments of €15, €20 or €26 over a 48-month term.

The sets come with a two-year warranty and free delivery and installation.

The televisions also come with Sky's basic package as standard, so customers will be purchasing both television and the service subscription.

Sky Glass also boasts Dolby Atmos sound, voice control, cloud recording, and live pause and programme restart functions.

The interface prioritises ease of use, serving users their favourite channels and programmes while juggling Sky, RTÉ, Netflix, Disney+, Apple+, Amazon Prime Video et al.

Sky has also agreed an exclusive deal to include BBC video on demand services on Sky Glass from October.

Naturally, in providing customers with both a television and a platform to host their streaming subscription, Sky is hoping to gain an advantage as consumers eye their potentially rocketing viewing costs, with Netflix, Disney and others having increased their fees this year amid rampant inflation.

"At the moment, we're in a cost of living crisis and people are going to be looking at their bills," says JD Buckley, CEO of Sky Ireland. "What we're trying to do is consolidate the best entertainment in one place, and then leave it up to customers.

"If people want Sky and want Netflix, we bundle them together. If you think about who could have built a product like this, we're probably uniquely placed to be able to do so because we make our own content.

"Sky has aggregated content for a number of years through the Sky Q platform, and we will continue to invest in Sky Q."

Sky has 3,000 pre-registrations for Sky Glass, and the launch is a big reason why the company has opened several retail stores in Ireland that will push the product in the run-up to Christmas. Buckley is confident the TV sets will drive customer growth in Ireland as it has in the UK.

"In the UK we launched Sky Glass almost a year ago and we are definitely getting good traction from new customers. Of course there are going to be existing Sky customers who want to upgrade to Glass, but we'll move into headroom of people who can't have a dish on their house.

"The second thing we're seeing is that the age profile of the customers we're attracting is slightly younger that we would have typically seen before."

As the streaming wars continue, with Sky Glass and the additions of the Peacock and Paramount+ services to its customer subscription options, Sky has bolstered its offering as it tries to hold off all-comers, and perhaps attract a generation back to traditional linear television.

Photo: A Sky Glass television. (Pic: Sky)