Sky Q will be available without a satellite dish from 2018

[bassethound]

For almost thirty years, Sky has operated first and foremost as a satellite television provider. Sure, the company has expanded its empire to include phone, broadband and, more recently, mobile services, but many of its customers have at some point had to wait home while an engineer fixes a receiver dish to the side of their house. Soon, that won't be the case, at least for Sky Q subscribers, after the provider confirmed it's ditching satellites for some customers in favour of an internet-connected service.

Sky is remaining tight-lipped over its plans, but 2018 will be when the quad-play provider finally begins providing customers with real choice between online and over-the-air broadcasts (that isn't Now TV). The company says it'll benefit "millions of homes currently unable to install a satellite dish," but will obviously rely on homeowners having a solid broadband connection (which Sky is also keen to provide).

To coincide with today's announcement, and a future switchover, Sky also announced the launch of My Sky, a new loyalty app that will reward customers with "exclusive experiences and benefits" based on how many services they subscribe to and long they've been with the company.

In a financial report released today, the provider said it saw an 18 percent drop in profits over the last six months or 2016 due to Premier League TV costs and a rising number of customers leaving. With BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk all poised to strike, Sky's new reward programme could help balance subscriber numbers.

Currently, there are over one million Sky Q boxes in approximately 600,000 homes. With over 20 million subscribers, Sky will be keen to migrate existing TV customers away from their Sky HD boxes and onto a service that is ultimately built for streaming. The company has said that the online-only box will be slightly different to its existing Q hardware, but hasn't shared whether the experience will be pared down in order to deliver everything over fibre.

 

[alll]

does this mean you will no longer get sky with a dish ?

 

[alll]

does this mean you will no longer get sky with a dish ?

 

[Joe_90]

mmm yes - providing your broadband is fast enough! There are lots of providers of IPTV, particularly the landline or cable network companies. Sky seems to be joining the party.

 

[alll]

so this will mean an end to card sharing

 

[danlou]

so this will mean an end to card sharing

one thing is certain...
it will mean a lock to this thread...

 

[adm]

millions of homes currently unable to install a satellite dish

There must be very few places where a satellite dish cannot be fitted. There are many more places with unsatisfactory broadband.
I also suspect that if millions start streaming TV over broadband in 2018 the infrastructure may start slowing down for each individual broadband user.

 

[cactikid]

if i am still alive in 2018 i will still have my sat dishes on house as more than sky around for now?
my m8 got a sky q box and dont work as not connected to broadband yet,6 weeks and counting how the hell are they going to run a lan service only

 

[Rob van der Does]

There must be very few places where a satellite dish cannot be fitted. There are many more places with unsatisfactory broadband.

Hmmm, most places where a dish can't be installed will be in cities, where broadband will normally be available.
And most houses without a decent broadband internet will be in rural areas, where erecting a dish will hardly be a problem.

I also suspect that if millions start streaming TV over broadband in 2018 the infrastructure may start slowing down for each individual broadband user.

That's indeed an issue, especially when you look at it world wide.
Satellite distribution is very cheap and doesn't use much bandwidth; the explosion of the multiplication of individual IPTV-streams is a heavy burden for internet-highways.

 

[DaMacFunkin]

Maybe their plan in bad broadband areas is to provide Internet over satellite LOL

 

[satmanbasil]

Thinking they may try and get Netflix subscribers with a better product however I cannot see them offering a vast package online unless they do a deal with say virgin to supply the service on cable

 

[Gannet]

I guess the recent loss of Sky channels for some people is all part of this drive to push people away from dishes?

 

[malcolmp]

What is the general opinion of sky etc. via a dish or broadband is a dish better or the same?

 

[twol]

"To coincide with today's announcement, and a future switchover, Sky also announced the launch of My Sky, a new loyalty app that will reward customers with "exclusive experiences and benefits" based on how many services they subscribe to and long they've been with the company."

Based on Sky's track record of supplying Service Excellence to it's customers, I am assuming this loyalty bonus will be backdated to date of joining to really provide support to their most loyal customers .... or I am dreaming

 

[beerglass]

Television from space is expensive, if we are know switching back to Broadband, or cable/ fiber, these systems should be alot cheaper than Satellite, or will the providers just make more money ?

 

[gdmm]

The broadband infrastructure isn't in the UK to support widespread streaming.

 

[DaMacFunkin]

BT already achieve it to their customers so why not?

 

[joysleep1]

Actually I called sky the other day to change my package and I asked about sky uhd. He said that it does come from the dish. The main box will come from the satellite dish and any additional boxes in the house comes thro the Internet

 

[gdmm]

BT already achieve it to their customers so why not?

From what little information I can find, Sky have nearly ten times the customers that BT TV has.

 

[thisntaht]

They will most likely stream using the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), H.265. There system will be built for this codec.
There is a massive reduction in the amount of bitrate needed to stream video in H.265.

A 1080p video can be streamed without issue on 3 Mbps.
Companies like Nvidia, Intel, Apple, GoPro and most others now have this codec incorporated into their systems/equipment.

Currently recommendations of bitrate needed for H.264
480p, recommended bitrate = 3 Mbps
720p, recommended bitrate = 5 Mbps
1080p, recommended bitrate = 8 Mbps
3840 x 2160 — 4K, recommended bitrate = 25 Mbps

To give you an idea of the reduction compared to H.264
The average bit rate reduction for HEVC was:
52% for 480p - recommended bitrate H.265 = 1.44 Mbps
56% for 720p - recommended bitrate H.265 = 2.2 Mbps
62% for 1080p - recommended bitrate H.265 = 3.04 Mbps
64% for 4K UHD - recommended bitrate H.265 = 9 Mbps

You can read more details about the tests that was conducted by the BBC and the University of the West of Scotland to prove these results on the High Efficiency Video Coding wiki page. People who have (what they see as) a crappy 5/6 Mbps internet speed should have no issues streaming 1080p with the H.265 codec.