Sky apparently no longer selling Sky Q to new customers!

brewerdave

Detail_Merchant said:

They're still letting customers pay for Sky+ which they haven't had any spare boxes for for a long time, so I don't think that will be a factor.

I agree that they will keep pushing more and more re Sky Stream, but in the end, while the satellites are working, if a large enough customer base are still watching and paying for satellite based Sky (+ and Q) then it's in their commercial interest to keep doing it.

The difference is that Sky+/SkyHD+ boxes were the property of the customer - if they broke not Sky's problem - SkyQ boxes are "rented" and supposedly replaceable/repairable whilst in contract - I;ve just renewed on a good price til mid Nov..2027 - no pressure to move to Stream during negotiations, in fact, no mention of it-only "offered" deals on b/band and mobiles.

LightFlare

Our old Sky+ box just gave up the ghost (we think) - it won’t load any menu and always says “initialising”

Trying to decide whether to source a reconditioned box of swap to Stream.

Anyone know if Sky will come and take the dish down ?

unforeseen

There's still no My5 App on Q and never will be now. Expect the other licenses to start to dry up, one by one.

There is. It's just called '5', The same as the mobile app name

MouldyOldDough

LightFlare said:

Our old Sky+ box just gave up the ghost (we think) - it won’t load any menu and always says “initialising”

Trying to decide whether to source a reconditioned box of swap to Stream.

Anyone know if Sky will come and take the dish down ?

No they won't without charging you - it's your property !

you can buy a 2nd hand sky+ box for next to nothing - £50 ebay buys you a sky+ box with 5 year warranty !

Neil_Jones

MouldyOldDough said:

LightFlare said:

Our old Sky+ box just gave up the ghost (we think) - it won’t load any menu and always says “initialising”

Trying to decide whether to source a reconditioned box of swap to Stream.

Anyone know if Sky will come and take the dish down ?

No they won't without charging you - it's your property !

you can buy a 2nd hand sky+ box for next to nothing - £50 ebay buys you a sky+ box with 5 year warranty !

Sky+HD boxes need to be linked on the new box, you can't just take your card out of one box and put it in another one. Unfortunately this procedure was switched off last year so you can't pair them now.

Depending on the fault it may be easy to clear, though a box stuck on initialising usually means it can't see a satellite signal.  This may be an LNB or cable issue.

matelodave

The only reason I have Sky Q is for its recording and time shifting ability which is not a feature of streaming. So if they turn it off then they'll lose me as a customer.

WillPS

dnpark38 said:

If Sky stop their Dish transmissions will my LG TV which has Freeview and Freesat stop working on Freesat?

Sky don't own the Astra satellites, they rent space on them. So do the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Paramount (Channel 5), UKTV etc. In the case of Freesat channels, the same feed is likely used for both Sky and Freesat receiving equipment.

When Sky eventually decide to kill Sky Q, they might decide to stop uplinking to satellite altogether, which would stop the Freesat versions of Challenge, Sky News, Sky Arts and Sky Mix, but would not affect anything else.

Freesat has a slightly different mortality issue - it's never been particularly successful, and arguably its most successful niche has been as a drop in replacement for Sky satellite service (especially in homes which don't have an aerial but do have a dish). In common with all linear TV the numbers watching are in freefall. On one hand, Sky going for an early kill on satellite service could provide a glug of customers wanting a DVR satellite service, even at the expense of their subscription channels. On the other hand with no Sky customers to feed are all the other broadcasters really going to be willing to continue paying Astra for carriage of their channels, for a culled and dwindling Freesat user base?

Right now the answer is yes, the PSBs are obliged by the terms of their licenses, but these can very quickly change and under the right circumstances Ofcom would likely allow it. There's precedent for this with the number of radio broadcasters who have recently vacated the AM band despite being contractually bound to broadcast on it. Ofcom just accepted that it was no longer commercially viable (i.e. not enough were listening this way any more to justify the cost).

Everyone TV, the company jointly owned by the PSBs, who operate the Freeview and Freesat platforms are actively pushing their Freely product - which has many things in common with Sky's streaming options - it offers better picture quality, freedom from a wired signal input and in theory a better range of services (although this hasn't materialised in either case yet). Unfortunately, like Sky Stream, it is also entirely proprietary and locked down, meaning recording limitations and unskipable ads.

It's going to be an interesting few years to see how this all goes. My gut instinct is that linear TV in general will be a vastly reduced proposition in a decade's time.

MouldyOldDough

matelodave said:

The only reason I have Sky Q is for its recording and time shifting ability which is not a feature of streaming. So if they turn it off then they'll lose me as a customer.

I second that - plus Ad skipping !!

JSmithy45AD

matelodave said:

The only reason I have Sky Q is for its recording and time shifting ability which is not a feature of streaming. So if they turn it off then they'll lose me as a customer.

Same here, although it's for the wifes benefit. If she goes first, so will Sky.

steven141

I did hear that Humax were developing a Freely recording box but boy sure if anything will come of it. I'm sure that EE TV allow you to record streaming channels.

I may end up with one of these options if Sky close down Sky Q as I don't want Sky Stream. Have used it in someone's house. The remote is confusing. There is no channel up and down button and you also get charged to skip ads and if the content is removed from streaming it is gone. I've been caught out before using these apps some only let you have a week's worth of episodes before they disappear. Not great when you happen to be busy.