Sky Q box could allow viewers to stop using their remote and control everything with their voice

Voice control through the traditional remote has already been rolled out

Sky's remote has long offered voice capabilities – but it might no longer be necessary (David Parry/PA Wire)

Sky Q could allow users to drop their remotes and control everything with their voice instead.

The TV remote might have been a fixture of watching television for much longer even than Sky has been a part of the experience. But the company could allow people to swap it out for just shouting at their TV, it has suggested.

Sky already offers its users the ability to talk to their Sky box, through the current Sky remote. Users can ask for particular films or channels, for instance, and they will come up, and Sky says that there are 11 million voice requests each month.

But that still relies on the microphone found inside the Sky Q remote. Users must press the button on the side of the clicker and then speak right into it.

The new feature would allow people to talk to their TV without using their hands at all, Sky suggested.

"You can’t lose your voice down the back of the sofa," said Jeremy Darroch, Sky's chief executive.

It is not clear whether the feature will mean that people will talk into the box – the current Sky box doesn't appear to have a microphone inside of it, though one could be plugged in – or if it will allow people to talk to their remote from a greater distance and without touching it.

The hands-free experience will be trialled later this year and potentially released to Sky customers soon after that, it said.

The announcement was just one of a range of new features announced by Sky. They also included plans to launch HDR in 2019 alongside a doubling of Ultra HD content, personal profiles that will ensure that the platform is better at recommending shows, and a kids mode that will make the TV box more fun and safer for children.

The new features were announced alongside the company's full-year results, which showed a 7 per cent rebound in annual earnings and cheered its global appeal as it remains at the centre of a takeover battle between suitors 21st Century Fox and Comcast.

The group thanked the global success of hit shows such as Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, for helping operating profits of £1.03 billion for the year to June 30, up from £964 million the previous year.

Pre-tax profits rose 7.6% to £864 million on like-for-like revenues 5% higher at £13.6 billion.

It said it saw customer growth of 39% in the final three months, taking its total reach to more than 23 million households across Europe.

In the UK and Ireland, Sky grew underlying earnings by 9% to £2 billion, with revenues 4% higher at £8.9 billion.

It added 270,000 new customers in the UK and Ireland over the year, including 20,000 in the fourth quarter.

Advertising revenues in the UK rose 6% while its rate of "churn" - customers quitting the group - fell to its lowest for a decade at 10.3% after it invested in original content.