If you’ve noticed your Sky Glass suddenly going black while the sound keeps playing, or various error messages pop up – you’re not alone.
A growing number of users (myself included) have been battling this infuriating bug since mid-April, and it’s affecting both the original Sky Glass and the shiny new Gen 2 models that only hit living rooms a few months ago.
The worst part? There’s no quick fix at the moment, and it seems Sky are still scratching their heads about what’s causing it.
What’s Actually Happening?
Reports about this new issue (or rather, a set of issues) have started to pop up on Sky’s community forum around April 11 – with the number of complaints growing since.
One of the problems with this particular fault, is that it’s inconsistent. Sometimes your Glass will work perfectly for hours, then suddenly decide it’s had enough of showing you pictures.
For some, the screen goes completely black, but bizarrely, the sound keeps playing – sometimes with a “Technical Fault” error message.
For others (like yours truly), a “Please wait for your programme to load” message pops up, and the programme stops playing at some point.
One customer on Sky’s community forum described his issues:
“The problem occurs when watching anything – either live TV, via the Continue Watching rail or when viewing via an app such as Disney+, Prime etc.
“The programme plays for a few minutes, then the screen goes completely black – no error message is shown. The programme sound is still playing, so it’s not an internet issue – you would lose both if the internet was to blame.”
What makes this even more peculiar is what happens next. As the same user explains: “If you exit to the Sky home screen, the programme stops playing, but the sound then appears to be coming from another programme that you haven’t selected.”
It’s the tech equivalent of your TV having an identity crisis.
Morning Blues
For many users, this fault seems to have a particular fondness for ruining your morning viewing.
“So this last week, when I turned the Sky Glass on in the morning, it came up with the usual page. I go to put a channel on and it says ‘Channel loading’ then says technical fault after a few minutes,” wrote one frustrated customer.
Another chimed in with a similar experience: “I have the same issue, it’s happened every morning this week. When I turn the TV on, it just says ‘waiting for programme to load’, then just stays blank. I unplug the TV, wait, plug it back in then a channel will come up.
“Sometimes, after a few minutes, I have to do the same process again.”
The Reset Merry-Go-Round
The current “solution” (and I use that term very loosely) involves a tedious cycle of resets.
Some users report that a simple reset via the settings menu only fixes things for a few minutes before the black screen returns. Others find that completely unplugging the TV sorts it out for a while.
The nuclear option – a full factory reset – seems to buy you a couple of days of peace, but then you’re back to square one. Not to mention having to set everything up again, which is about as fun as filing your tax return.
In any case, Sky usually advised against doing a hard factory reset, unless advised by their support directly – so I would stay away from that option, at least for now (especially since it doesn’t seem to fix things for those who have tried it).
Not Every Glass Is Affected
Interestingly, this doesn’t seem to be affecting every single Sky Glass out there. Sky Stream boxes also appear to be immune to whatever bug is causing this.
This suggests we’re looking – perhaps – at a software update that’s gone rogue – likely pushed out to some Glass TVs but not others.
Sky’s Response
Sky has acknowledged there’s an issue and says they’re investigating. They’re currently collecting examples from affected customers to “gain a broader understanding and examine individual disruptions and stream performance.”
We’ve reached out to Sky directly for more information and will update this article when they have any updates.
Haven’t We Been Here Before?
If this situation feels familiar, that’s because it is. Back in September 2024, Sky Glass and Stream users were hit with a major outage that left many devices completely unresponsive.
The solution back then? A semi-factory reset that meant reconnecting everything and losing all your settings.
Hopefully, the solution will be easier and just include an update from Sky, this time around.
All this is happening just months after the launch of Sky Glass Gen 2 in February this year, with Sky promising better picture quality, improved sound, and various other refinements – not a good early experience for those new to the platform.
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I worked in TV manufacturing for years and Fter taking early retirement I thought I’d test a Sky Glass and bought one. Within days it was obvious that despite a pretty robust build quality the panel was poor and the software across Glass and stream was dire, beta release I’d say. I returned everything and contract terminated.
Now some two years on you’d expect some minor tweaks but it seems very much not the case. Sky is not cheap and you have to ask what the hell are Comcast playing at, they even managed to totally screw up the Now app too but thankfully on Apple TV at least there have been several fast update rollout to resolve most but not all problems.
When owned by the Murdoch’s revolutionising Sky was for sure better managed and UK based now Sky users are reliant on Comcast USA and without doubt the user experience in faltering.
Don’t forget there are far cheaper alternatives to Sky and actually Sky is not necessary now as a provider not like the early satellite days.
So you know what to do…..
And on it goes – two resets already this morning. Sky allegedly ‘investigating’, but no solution yet. Really poor.
I have exactly the same problem watching Freeview through a Panasonic BluRay PVR. But it only happens when I’m viewing through the PVR, if I switch to Live TV and watch through the rooftop antenna I have no problems at all.
This issue does seem like it’s a continuation of the issues starting last year. It never got good, just less bad, until the latest few weeks where it is just awful. I’ve lost count of how many factory resets and restarts I’ve done.
For anyone who doesn’t have a Sky Glass TV, a simple restart takes 5‐10 minutes with this TV. It’s awful. And Sky’s response to it all is, “we’ll test some software changes in the future. Enjoy!”. This on the absolutely most expensive streaming service in the world. It’s embarrassing to own one of these overpriced garbage television. Always laggy, always problems, always having to sit on the phone for hours, on lines that aren’t even free, to get nonsensical help, and being transferred between anonymous people.
The joys of broadband TV.