- Sky Q is no longer available for online ordering
- Existing subscribers don’t have to worry about losing service
- Sky recommends Sky Glass and Sky Stream
It’s time to toast the dearly departed – Sky Q is no longer a new product you can buy, marking the beginning of the end for UK satellite TV.
According to ISP Review, Sky Store is now informing potential Q buyers that Sky Q is no longer available to purchase and is instead directing them to Sky Stream and Sky Glass products. The Sky Q page now says: “We have disconnected Sky Q. Connect Sky Stream for less.”
It’s not a big surprise – the writing has been on the wall since Sky Stream launched in 2022, and Sky Q has become less and less visible since then – but it’s still a major milestone.
You can read our Sky Stream review to learn more about how well that box performs, as well as our reviews of the Sky Glass 2nd Gen and Sky Glass Air, which are the other options Sky would love for you to choose.
Why did Sky Q disappear?
The firm we know today as Sky began broadcasting via satellite to the United Kingdom in 1989 with four channels: Sky Channel, a general interest channel; Eurosport; News from heaven; and Sky Movies. Over the years, it expanded that programming dramatically, and for those of us who lived outside of cable TV regions, it was the only way to update the programming of four broadcast TV channels.
It also became something of a status symbol: I remember being very impressed and extremely jealous of my school friends whose parents not only subscribed to Sky’s basic package but to song-and-dance plans with more channels than you could ever hope to watch.
The reason for the shift to broadband television is simple: satellite broadcasting is expensive and the current crop of satellites is reaching the end of its expected 15-year lifespan. Since many of us already use Internet streaming, there isn’t as big a market for satellite as there was in previous decades. And that means there is no desire to invest a lot of money for small returns.
If you’re a current Sky Q subscriber, don’t worry – they won’t be disconnecting your service or disconnecting your fireplace antenna just yet. We’ll likely still have satellite streaming until the end of the decade, possibly even longer, although you can read what it’s like to switch from Sky Q to Sky Stream here.
But it is clear that the era of satellite television is over. We have seen the future and it flows.
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