Sky goes to Roku for Smart Stick, a TV streamer at half the price of Chromecast or Amazon's Fire TV stick

For you, sir, just £15 for this voice-controlled Now TV Smart Stick

Satellite broadcaster Sky has launched the 'UK's cheapest streaming TV stick' in a bid to hold-on to its casual customers, and keep Google and Amazon at bay.

The Now TV Smart Stick is, like all Now TV boxes, a rebranded Roku device that hooks you up to Sky's subscription-free sports, entertainment, movies and children's TV packages.

It doesn't have 4K like the streaming stick that Roku launched last year, but the custom-built device does come with support for voice commands, so you can bark 'Play Game of Thrones' at the bundled remote control, for example, and sit back and enjoy a nice, heart-warming 'red wedding'. The remote can also control your TV, so you can use it to control the volume and switch it off.

The Smart Stick is also the first Now TV device not to require an additional power source. Although it doesn't charge via HDMI, it can charge via your TV's onboard USB-ports, which means it shouldn't contribute to the unsightly tangle of cables dangling from your TV.

The £14.99 HDMI dongle goes on sale in February. For an extra fiver, Sky will bung in a two-month Now TV Entertainment Pass, which will give users access to live TV channels and more than 300 Sky box sets.

Sky will also flog the Now TV Smart Stick with a one-month Sky Cinema Pass for £19.99, or a one-month Sky Sports Pass for £29.99.

Gidon Katz, managing director at Now TV, said: "If you're looking for a flexible way to stream great TV, contract-free, our plug-and-play Now TV Smart Stick is the cheapest in the UK.

"Just add one of our content passes to stream premium live sports, binge over 300 Box Sets, watch a new movie premiere every day, or keep the family entertained with thousands of kids episodes."