The Sky Glass Air TV Is Finally Here – And It Rewrites The TV Price Rulebook

British subscription broadcaster Sky has today unveiled more details about its new Glass Air TV series – including a price structure that threatens to make them all but irresistible to anyone on the hunt for a serious TV bargain.

Sky first announced the existence of its new Glass Air TVs in a classic ‘And one more thing before we go’-style revelation during its Sky Glass Gen 2 TV unveiling event back in February, catching assembled journalists completely by surprise with this more affordable way of combining a Sky channel subscription with a new TV. Details on the Air were sparse back then, though, leaving many questions to be answered regarding its specification and price. Answers which I can now provide.

The Glass Air series will be available in three screen sizes: 43-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch. All three sizes will also be available in any of three color options, too: Sea Green, Carbon Grey, and Cotton White. Your chosen Glass Air will ship with a color-matched remote and stand, as well as as benefitting from a slimmer, sleeker design than that of the Glass Gen 2 sets. You can hang the Airs up on either universal wall mounts or Sky’s dedicated bracket, or simply slot them on to their included, no-tools-required desktop stands.

The Glass Airs will each feature native 4K resolutions and support high dynamic range playback, with the wide color gamuts associated with HDR content being delivered via a Quantum Dot color system.

The Glass Airs’ pictures will be accompanied by a built-in Dolby Audio speaker system, while their entire content search and delivery system will run on Sky’s proprietary OS – the same sophisticated, highly acclaimed smart software that powers both the original Sky Glass TVs and Sky’s Stream boxes. This includes arguably the most advanced and specifically focused voice recognition/control system in the TV world.

The single most stand-out trick of Sky’s OS for TVs and streaming boxes is, of course, the way they let you live stream (and access on demand) all of Sky’s hundreds of channels over a broadband connection, rather than requiring you to have a satellite dish attached to your home.

As with the step-up Sky Glass TVs, the three new Air models can all be bought via monthly instalments, rather than requiring you to find all the money to buy them up front. It’s this part of the Sky Glass Air offering that I suspect will see them becoming at least as popular as the original and second-gen Sky Glass TVs have been, with Sky confirming that you will be able to buy one for as little as six pounds – yes, that’s six pounds – a month (paid over a 48-month period). That price is available for existing Sky subscribers, too, rather than being reserved for new customers.

With Sky channel package subscriptions starting from £15 a month for the Sky Essential package (which includes Netflix and Discovery+ access), you could basically get a brand new 43-inch 4K, HDR-capable TV, dozens of channels and many thousands of hours of on-demand Sky content for as little as £21 a month all in.

The 55 and 65-inch Glass Airs attract prices of £10 and £13 a month respectively (which for my money makes the 65-inch model the most attractive all-round proposition) with customers able to choose a 24-month TV subscription or opt for a 31-day rolling contract. Sky adds that you can upgrade your monthly package to the Ultimate TV pack for just £7 a month more, giving you access to such extra channels as (among many others) Sky Max, Sky Comedy, Sky Documentaries, Sky Crime, Sky History and Sky Showcase.

It’s also possible to buy a Glass Air up-front if you’re able to resist temptation monthly price option, with the 43-inch costing £309, the 55-inch costing £509 and the 65-inch costing £649.

“With Sky Glass Air,” says Carli Kerr, MD of Sky TV, “we’re bringing the Sky experience to more people through a beautifully designed TV with stunning picture quality from just £6 a month. It’s all about giving people better for less: More choice, great tech, and the content they love, without compromising on quality. From the ultimate performance of Glass Gen 2 to the incredible value of Air, there’s now a Sky Glass to suit everyone, whether you’re new to Sky or already with us.”

Sky Glass Air TVs go on sale on Tuesday 10th June via Sky.com, Sky stores, Sky call centres and Currys online, as well as becoming available at physical Currys stores from June 18.

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