Some Sky customers who normally choose to whizz through adverts will be charged £5 a month to continue doing so from today. It applies to the sponsored messages that are shown on channels such as ITV and Channel 4 but certain Sky subscribers will not be affected, reports The Express.
Anybody who has Sky Q, for example, can still skip the commercials for no extra fee. People who have recently bought Sky's Glass TV will also avoid the hike to their bills for 18 months.
Anybody who buys a Sky Glass television from today, though, or a new Stream box will be required to purchase the "Ad Skipping Add On pack" to their subscription if they want to avoid the adverts while watching via their Playlists menu or on catch-up apps such as ITVX. Even without the "Ad Skipping pack," however, all Sky customers can still pause a live show and fast forward through ad breaks until they reach the live stream again.
Commenting on the new feature, a Sky spokesperson said: "With the Ad Skipping Add On, you'll be able to fast forward through adverts when using Live Pause, Restart, Playlist or Sky On Demand. You can also fast forward adverts from within ITVX, STV Player and All4 TV apps.
"The Ad Skipping Add On doesn't mean that you won't see any adverts. It allows the ability to fast forward through the ads using the relevant remote control buttons and on screen menu for what you're watching. The Ad Skipping Add On doesn't include other apps, like YouTube or Spotify."
All4 already charge £3.99 per month if users want to skip ads and the fee for ITVX is £5.99. A major free upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream users, meanwhile, will provide improvements to the Playlists feature and make it easier to locate your favourite content. Next month will also see the launch of personalised content for every member of the family and local dimming on the screen to boost picture quality.
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