Why an Android TV should replace your Sky Subscription, but it won’t.

Android TV has come a long way in the over the years, with Google’s set top OS box being free from the limitations of its main competitor in Apple TV. Unless you have a Jailbroken Apple TV 2, which are crazy expensive, you really need to be committed to Apple’s ecosystem to get the best out of an Apple TV (and that’s only really if you’re Jailbroken). An Apple TV and a Jailbroken iDevice opens the door to Movie Box, which offers almost every movie and TV show ever aired.

If this is not for you, then an Android TV box will give you Movie Box, Mobdro and most importantly, XBMC. XBMC, or Kodi, started out as the Xbox Media Centre, but is extremely customisable. This comes from the form of add-ons, which allows the user to get almost every movie and TV show ever.

More impressive though is the offerings of live TV. There are hundreds of add-ons for Kodi which will give you access to live TV from around the globe, but the killer here is all the sports channels including Sky Sports, BT Sports and others. This means that for an initial outlay of around £50 (for a decent Android TV box) you can ditch your Sky Sports subscription, save yourself £40 a month and watch all the football on your TV, including the all important 3 O’clock kick offs. Seems like a no brainer, then?

No. Unfortunately not. The beauty of Sky is the sheer simplicity of the interface – almost anyone can use it. Channels are easily accessible without the need of any tinkering, but to get the best out of Kodi you must be tech-savvy, which the majority of people aren’t. Until there is an interface out there that your nan can use, Kodi and Android TV boxes like the OTT M8 are doomed to be something which forum posters and the tech savvy use, who probably don’t have a Sky subscription to begin with.