Sky is to give viewers the option to ditch the dish with a new Internet TV Service that it plans to launch later in the year.

There has been a tidal wave of announcements from Sky over the last day or so. On Monday it was revealed that Sky Anytime+ would soon to be open to customers on other ISPs and that the BBC iPlayer was inbound too.

This was followed by the news of Sky's new 40Mb Unlimited Fibre broadband, free Wi-Fi from The Cloud and Sky Go tuning in to Android.

But it's this last announcement that is the most intriguing - that Sky to is to launch a new Internet TV Service. We're told by our pals at Sky that this isn't just Sky Go in new clothing - but a new way of getting Sky without the need for a satellite dish to be plonked on the side of your house.

Sky's official statement reads: "Taking advantage of the rapid growth in broadband-connected devices, and building on Sky’s experience in multi-platform TV, the new service will be an additional choice for people who don’t currently subscribe to a pay TV service.

"The new service will provide instant and simple access to a range of Sky content, including hundreds of films from Sky Movies. Giving consumers even more choice and flexibility, the service will be available to anyone in the UK with a broadband connection."

Movies seem to feature heavily in the announcement and it even states that, rather than taking a subscription, people will be able to rent movies on a pay-as-you-go basis.

This hints at a pick and mix Sky IPTV platform and, with the F1 channel set to launch in March, makes perfect sense if Sky is to capitalise on all of the petrol heads who may not want the full Sky package.

It will be available on PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and connected TVs and will offer "immediate streaming through an intuitive interface".

Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s chief executive, said: "Alongside the continued growth of our satellite platform, this will be a new way for us to reach out to consumers who love great content, but may not want the full Sky service. Bringing a distinctive, new choice to the marketplace will help us meet the needs and demands of an ever wider range of consumers.

"This new product launch will build on our early leadership in multi-platform distribution. It will allow us to make our expertise and investment in content and technology work even harder, extending our options for continued growth."

It's set to hit in the first half of 2012, we'll update you as soon as we have more details.