5 ways the EPG from Sky sucks

There is less than one week to go before the BBC Trust releases its emerging conclusions on Project Canvas*. One part of the whole project that will get heavily scrutinised from now till, well, the whole time the project exists, is the electronic programme guide (the EPG).

Prompted by the EPG focus for Canvas (but not directly related) here, in no particular order, are 5 things that suck about the EPG of Sky+ (my current TV provider):

1. It cannot get episode guides/blurbs right: too often it simply shows the wrong description under “info” for the episode that is screening. (Applies for both live and recorded eps.)
2. When in Anytime (the on-demand section) there is no acceptable description of series or episodes. For example, it says “The Wire”, but doesn’t tell me what series, or what episode, or indeed whether it’s just on ep or a whole series that I can watch.
3. It takes at least two button presses to get to both Anytime in the first place. Same to get to my recorded shows.
4. When watching linear/live TV, hitting the “info” button can only show info for the current time and channel selected. This means you cannot - not even easily - keep watching live TV while getting any more than show name on upcoming shows either on that channel or other channels.
5. The “search by A-Z function” is so rubbish that it is effectively useless. There are a lot of programs on offer from Sky (let alone what might be avaiable in something like Canvas) , but it only lets you key in the first letter as your whole search term, and with the listings showing every episode including the timeshifted channels, you get RSI paging down through, for example, the Cs to reach “criminal minds”.

(Of course, while I’m not a TV or technology novice, it’s worth noting these are based just on my and my household’s experience - it’s always possible my particular box or remote or service aren’t functioning like they should.)

* I’ve just started a wiki all about Project Canvas, and accompanying blog, if you’re interested in reading more about it. The wiki is here, the blog is here, and the Twitter account is @ProjectCanvasUK. (The wiki is still early days with regard to in-depth content though - check it out in a couple of days for something meatier.)