My Sky's the limit as service trials mobile technology

Sky Television is testing technology that allows My Sky personal video recorders to be programmed remotely by mobile phone as demand for the service soars.

Chief executive officer John Fellet says demand for the recorders has been higher than expected since the launch six months ago. The pay-TV network has installed 7000 and there is a two-week waiting list.

Sky TV ordered 20,000 recorders last year, aiming to sell 10,000 in the first 12 months.

The recorders store programmes to a hard disk. They can record an incoming TV signal, allowing "live" television to be paused or rewound after a short buffer period - and viewers can fast-forward through ads.

Fellet said yesterday that the company was looking at technology that allowed recorders to be programmed by mobile phone, but he could not say when such a service might be introduced.

It was also looking at introducing a hybrid box that would allow users to watch digital TV or surf the internet, a model used by BSkyB in Britain.

Fellet said Sky TV needed to balance signing new subscribers and upgrading existing customers to My Sky: "We want to do both and we will do both."

He said the introduction was driven by customers but also benefited the company because My Sky users generally ordered more channels.