Seventh channel vanishes from Sky Q boxes overnight in ‘backward’ decline for satellite TV fans
SKY viewers bid farewell to another channel today in a fresh blow to satellite TV fans.
It’s the seventh channel to disappear from Sky Q and Sky+HD boxes in less than two weeks.
Satellite viewers have lost a number of HD channels as well as a +1 channel today.
Customers have slammed the move as “backward” while others fear it signals the “slow lingering death” of the much-loved Sky Q.
Bosses have insisted that Sky Q will “be with us for a while”, despite launching the device nine years ago.
The company has made a number of software updates to Sky Q to keep up with its newer TV product, Sky Glass.
Sky Glass requires a broadband connection instead of a satellite dish on the side of your house, and it’s all packed into the TV itself rather than requiring a box.
However many Brits are still using Sky Q, preferring features like the ability to record anything directly on their box rather than on the cloud as Sky Glass does.
But the latest threat to the future of satellite TV appears to be the number of channels as traditional broadcasting continues to adjust to the era of streaming.
Many TV giants, including BBC and ITV, have been shutting down their old SD (standard definition) channels in favour of going HD only on satellite.
But earlier this month, UKTV surprised customers by doing the opposite, opting to close some of its HD channels on satellite and sticking to SD only.
U&W HD and U&Yesterday HD disappeared from Sky Q and Sky+HD at the start of April, followed by Sky History 2 HD.
It means satellite TV viewers can only watch the channels live in the inferior picture quality now – though HD content for some shows will still be available on-demand.
At the end of March, Sky Sports Racing SD, TWR and Ramazan TV HD all closed too.
And today, in the latest blow, Sky History+1 is going.
It will leave satellite channel number 223 empty (224 in Scotland).
What does it mean for the future of satellite TV?
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
Fortunately, viewers won’t be missing their favourite shows entirely as +1 channels merely show the main channel an hour later.
And with streaming catch-up these days people can easily find what they want to watch again without relying on +1 channels.
However, it does demonstrate the mega shift caused by streaming.
The days of Sky, Virgin and other players boasting hundreds of channels may come to an end soon.
But it may not be such a bad thing, as it means less duplication.