As the era of traditional satellite television wanes, Sky is gearing up for a future dominated by streaming services, signalling that the days of Sky Q, its satellite-based flagship product, are numbered.
This shift is underscored by Sky’s announcement of substantial job cuts, targeting around 1,000 roles, with a significant portion in satellite engineering.
This move towards streaming technology, headlined by Sky Stream and Sky Glass, is a clear response to viewers’ shifting preferences, who increasingly favour on-demand, internet-based content.
So while Sky Q isn’t going away yet, the surging popularity of Sky Glass and Sky Stream is undeniable, underscored by Sky Glass being named the UK’s best-selling television in 2023.
A Shift Toward Streaming
Sky (which is owned by American giant Comcast) is reportedly undergoing a major reorganisation, leading to around 1,000 job cuts (about 4% of its workforce), which will significantly impact its engineering workforce.
Sources from LBC reveal that Sky initiated these job cuts during a call with the operations team, marking the start of a consultation period regarding redundancies.
This decision, though abrupt for many employees, is seen internally as a strategic shift rather than a mere market pressure reaction, and a direct response to the changing media consumption landscape, where streaming services are becoming increasingly popular.
As more customers lean towards digital-only services like Sky Glass and Sky Stream, the need for traditional satellite-based roles, especially within engineering, diminishes.
The company notes that a majority of new TV customers opt for products like Sky Glass and Sky Stream, which utilise streaming television, over satellite-based services like Sky Q and the older Sky boxes.
This pivot is especially significant considering that in 2023, Sky Glass was the UK’s best-selling television, according to Sky.
A Sky spokesperson underscored this shift: “The launch of Sky Glass and Sky Stream represents a shift in our business to deliver TV over IP rather than satellite.
“Customers are choosing Sky Glass and Sky Stream which don’t require specialist installation, leading us to change the number of roles needed to deliver our services.”
The Future of Sky: Sky Stream VS Sky Q
Sky Glass, Sky’s broadband-based 4K TV, was Sky’s first step into a streaming-based future – but it was Sky Stream, launched in October 2022, that represented the most significant departure from traditional satellite-based services like Sky Q.
Sky Stream operates purely over broadband, streaming all content directly to a box, similar to other streaming devices like Amazon’s Fire TV and Roku – but with Sky’s unique operating system.
This service shares many features with Sky Glass, including the same interface, but differs in that it connects to any TV, so customers don’t need to buy a new telly.
Furthermore, Sky Stream (and Sky Glass) work with any broadband provider – meaning the potential customer base is quite large – unlike Virgin Media’s Stream and EE TV’s Apple TV platforms, which only work with those companies’ broadband service.
Sky Stream’s ease of setup, requiring just a connection to a TV and broadband, stands in contrast to Sky Q’s need for a satellite dish installation – and an engineer visit – which helps to explain how Sky can reduce the number of employed engineers, as Sky Stream becomes dominant.
However, a notable difference between Sky Stream and Sky Q, where Q has the advantage (according to some, at least) – is in the recording capabilities.
Sky Stream utilises a global “Playlist” feature for recording, allowing users to stream programmes as long as they are available on the connected streaming service.
This contrasts with Sky Q’s local recording function, which lets you keep recorded programmes indefinitely.
Pricing Structure: Sky Stream vs Sky Q
Sky Stream offers a more flexible pricing model compared to Sky Q. Customers can choose between a 31-day rolling contract, offering maximum flexibility, or an 18-month contract, which reduces the monthly cost.
The basic package, Sky Ultimate, includes Sky Entertainment, Freeview channels over broadband, and Netflix.
Pricing for additional packages and services like Sky Cinema, Sky Sports, Sky Kids, and TNT Sports varies based on the chosen contract.
Sky Q, in contrast, requires a long-term contract with a setup fee for the satellite dish installation.
Its pricing structure includes various add-ons and subscription packs, making it a bit more complex than Sky Stream.
All in all, Sky Q’s pricing for the basic package and additional services like Sky Cinema and Sky Sports is somewhat similar to Sky Stream’s 18-month contract (plus the setup fee) – but recently, most of Sky’s promotional offers have been geared towards Stream and Glass – and not Sky Q.
Streaming The Future
Sky’s decision to reduce its workforce and pivot towards streaming services mirrors broader industry trends.
As we reported earlier this week, Channel 4 is also downsizing, as part of a plan to move into a streaming-first future.
And, with the planned launch of “Freely” later this year, Freeview and Freesat are also embarking on a journey to eventually replace the aerial-based and satellite-based channels with broadband-based channels.
Whether you like it or not, streaming seems to be the way forward, and Sky Q customers will, at some point, need to move on (but not for several years, it seems).
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I read all the comments and I agree and there is no way I would switch to sky glass and not record and keep programmes to watch at a later date and lose all recorded programs on sky Q so in fact they can keep sky glass and so sky can reduce their workforce just to save money ludicrous more people out of a job
Am not leaving sky+HD 😆😝😝
This is all fine and well in principle but until these network providers can offer a truly 100% reliable broadband service then I don’t see a benefit to the switch.
My wife and I only watch things on the planner if not streamed. If they were to force the viewing of adverts that, for us, would be a step backward.
Personally I won’t leave sky Q for less channels and no ability to save recordings at all, Sky need to give us the option at least of being able to save and record to the cloud, im not prepared to lose ALL my recordings and my purchases over the years I have been with sky which is 20+ years in total. That is totally unfair on sky Q customers, sky need to do something about this, hard drives are old tech, but unfortunately with sky they don’t think ahead technology wise. For example with the sky minibox, they should have ALL been made future proof as in capable of 4k at least. Same with sky Q boxes, ALL models should have been capable of 4k not just 1080p only for the non 2tb boxes, we should be able to back up our recordings and our purchases.
Not happy with the move to streaming or sky glass neither of them are any good for us. we have a static caravan in Wales UK but no wifi only a satellite dish, as the wifi reception is very patchy and extremely expensive on caravan parks. We would have to revert back to the old dvds. You really have not thought this one out SKY.
I’ve always refused upgrading to a sky Q box as i now own my existing Sky HD wifi built in box, but sky Q would never be mine and once the engineer changes the LNB on the dish to accommodate sky Q, if i leave sky the box needs to be returned, as it was basically only being loaned, but more frustratingly it’s not just a case of connecting up old sky HD box again as the wired connection is designed for sky Q and it would need a workaround, but maybe in the future I’ll check out sky stream? I’m not convinced yet with Sky glass. I think they’re decision to accommodate any broadband provider is a shrewd business move which virgin may well copy this year?
Is this another move towards the end of users saving programmes to boxes such as the BT (now EE) TV Box Pro? Is this just so the providers will then be able to force us to watch adverts and won’t be able to skip through them any more?
I think it will be sooner rather later. But it’ll depend how people respond to Freely as well BT/EE & TalkTalk deciding what to do with Youview. I’ve just recently got an BT Pro box and it’s fantastic for £60. I hope I’ll be able to use for a lot more years! I’m
You should check out the Sky website… SkyQ has been absent from the menu structure and new customer signup mechanisms for some time…
Sky Glass has been its primary product for a very long time now.