Sky has announced a major investment in the US online video service Pluto TV. It has paid the firm half-a-million dollars, partly to draw on its experience in streamed content and the new ways people are enjoying television across multiple platforms.

Pluto.TV is a States-only service at present that curates more than a 100 channels of video content drawn from across the internet and offers it for free across a range of devices, including iOS, Android, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire tablets and Fire TV.

It covers a wide range of categories, including music videos, sports, entertainment, kids and tech, and is something alternative to Sky's current UK offering. Imagine a Sky Go service that not only provides the Sky channel line-up, but streamed video content from online-only providers?

Of course, Sky might just help Pluto.TV launch in the UK as a separate service, after all it owns a large stake in Roku, or it could use the technologies devised by the LA start-up for a different project entirely.

Whatever plans it has for Pluto.TV, the investment shows that the British broadcaster and service provider is not looking to stand still in an era of content expansion.

"This partnership enables Sky to draw on the ground-breaking work Pluto.TV is doing to help viewers discover and enjoy the best of online TV through an intuitive and editorially rich TV platform," said Emma Lloyd, director of corporate business development.

"As we learn about new trends in the way people watch TV, we look forward to sharing our own expertise in content creation, packaging and promotion."