Customers of Sky’s (Sky Broadband) older Standard Definition (SD) TV service and devices (i.e. Digibox and Sky+ set-top-boxes) have been given a final warning to upgrade their service before October 2024 or face automatic cancellation. The warning appears to represent a slight delay on the original August 2024 deadline.
Just to recap. The upgrade drive, which has been running for a while (here), reflects the fact that Sky is currently “changing how we deliver our TV services“ (i.e. they’re changing the Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) method to DVB-S2 (second generation) from the DVB-S transponder, which many older SD-only boxes can’t receive). “This means if you have an SD box, you’ll need to upgrade to continue watching Sky channels,” said Sky.
The company and other broadcasters (e.g. BBC) on Sky’s platform have thus been gradually switching off their SD channels and focusing on HD (High Definition) supporting STBs and channels. Back in May 2024 we reported that the final stage of this transition was due to start from June and run until August 2024, which the company said meant “you’ll start to lose access to all Sky channels“, unless you upgrade.
Customers of Sky TV have thus spent the past few months being encouraged to upgrade their box to the more modern Sky Q platform “at no extra cost” (you can upgrade online or call 0333 759 5121). The new box will be installed by one of Sky’s engineers on a date selected by the customer. Customers that upgrade will once again then be able to access all the Sky channels in their Sky TV package.
“Without the upgrade, any subscriptions you have to these channels will be cancelled,” added Sky in May 2024. But Sky has now notified the remaining customers to say: “If you don’t contact us or upgrade, your Sky TV will be cancelled and you’ll lose access to these services on your payment due date in October [2024]” (details on their upgrade page).
The Affected STBs:
Digibox
➤ 4F01 to 4F08 (Amstrad)
➤ 4E01 to 4E05 (Grundig)
➤ 9F01 to 9F08 and 9F0A (Pace)
➤ 0F01 to 0F05 (Panasonic)
➤ 4E06 to 4E08 (Thomson)Sky+
➤ 4F2001 to 4F2006 (Amstrad)
➤ 4F2101 to 4F2118 and 9F2101 to 9F2137 (Amstrad or Pace)
➤ 9F2001 to 9F2024, PVR2, 9F2201 to 9F2235, 9F2301 to 9F2339 (Pace)
➤ 4E2101 to 4E2141 (Thomson)