Sky Q customers have been waiting over a year, but the U app has finally arrived on their boxes.
UKTV and Sky confirmed today that the free streaming service is now available on Sky Q, joining Sky Glass and Sky Stream users who’ve had access since September 2024.
For those still catching up with UKTV’s rebrand rollercoaster, U is what we used to call UKTV Play before the broadcaster decided to simplify everything under the “U” banner last year.
What You Get With The U App
The app gives Sky Q users access to shows from all of UKTV’s free-to-air channels – that’s U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W, U&YESTERDAY, and U&Eden (which became free-to-air last year after previously being a premium channel) – plus exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else.
We’re talking about popular series like The Marlow Murder Club, Whitstable Pearl, The Chelsea Detective, and the new Bergerac reboot.
The service has been doing rather well for itself, with UKTV reporting a 34% increase in views and 21% more active users throughout 2024.
They’ve also expanded their content library to over 9,000 hours – that’s quite a lot of free (ad-supported) telly to get through.
Sky Q Gets Some Love
What’s particularly noteworthy here is that Sky is still investing in Sky Q despite their obvious focus on streaming services like Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
We know that 90% of new Sky customers are choosing the streaming options, but there are still millions of households with Sky Q boxes who clearly aren’t being forgotten.
This follows Sky’s decision last October to extend their satellite deal until 2029, essentially giving Sky Q (and, by proxy, Freesat) a stay of execution.
It seems Sky recognises that not everyone is ready to ditch their satellite dish just yet – whether due to patchy broadband, personal preference, or simply because their current setup works perfectly fine (though, of course, those without broadband won’t be able to use the U streaming player).
Sky Q users have had to wait longer than most for the U app. It first launched on Sky Glass and Sky Stream back in September 2024 (originally planned for July but delayed).
Virgin Media customers got an expanded rollout earlier this year as well, with the service reaching about 95% of Virgin TV homes when it arrived on V6 boxes.
The delay for Sky Q might seem odd, but it’s likely down to the technical differences between Sky’s satellite-based and streaming-based platforms.
Getting apps to work properly on different systems takes time, and clearly Sky Q needed some extra attention.
UKTV’s Transformation Journey
UKTV underwent a massive rebrand in July 2024, transforming UKTV Play into simply “U” and adding the “U&” prefix to most of their channels.
So Dave became U&Dave, Drama became U&Drama, and so on.
The only channels that retained their original names initially were the premium ones – Gold and Alibi – which remain exclusive to pay-TV platforms like Sky and Virgin Media. However, they eventually received the U& treatment as well.
The U app is now available pretty much everywhere you’d expect to find it – Sky Q, Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Virgin Media boxes, Freeview Play devices, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung smart TVs, and the Freely streaming platform.
Remember, you’ll need to register for a separate U account (different from your Sky login), and you’ll see adverts during programmes even if you have Sky’s ad-skip feature – that only works for Sky’s own catch-up content.
Still, it’s good to see Sky Q getting some attention. While the future clearly lies with streaming, there’s something reassuring about knowing that your trusty satellite box isn’t being abandoned just yet.
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