Sky set-top boxes in Scotland now offer the STV Player

This week the STV Player joined the Sky service in Scotland.

“Sky brings together all the best entertainment in one place, so we are thrilled to be bringing our customers in Scotland access to great content via STV Player too.” – Jon Simkin, Managing Director, Channels and Operations, Sky

Leading VOD service in Scotland, the STV Player, has this week launched on Sky set-top boxes giving viewers access to STV content across all major TV platforms for the first time.

The launch will enable Sky customers in Scotland to catch up on their favourite STV programmes including Coronation Street and I’m A Celebrity which starts next month, as well as providing viewers with all of STV’s local programming, including hit show Sean’s Scotland and STV News at Six – the best watched news programme in Scotland*.  Hundreds of hours of additional content from both the STV archive and new content partnerships will become available in the coming weeks.

The launch follows confirmation earlier this year of STV’s five-year strategic partnership with Sky which will give Sky viewers across Scotland even better access to STV’s content, whenever and wherever they want it.  STV launched as the UK’s first fully regionalised HD public service channel on the Sky platform earlier this year.

STV Player launched on Virgin Media in December 2018. Together, the Sky and Virgin launches effectively double STV’s digital reach in Scotland. As part of the launch STV Player will sell its own advertising inventory on the Sky platform following a partnership with ad tech provider Freewheel.

The launch will be followed by a further roll-out of the STV Player to Sky Go users later this year.

“With this launch, STV Player is now universally available across all platforms in Scotland for the first time. Sky is hugely popular in Scotland and our viewers will now be able to access their favourite STV shows, like the soaps and next month’s I’m a Celebrity, alongside more relevant local programming whenever they want them.  The STV Player is the most popular commercial broadcast player in Scotland and we’re delighted to be working in partnership with Sky to expand its reach across the country.” – Richard Williams, STV’s Managing Director, Digital

*Source: BARB Jan-Oct 2019, individuals