The era of satellite TV is coming to an end: Sky Q is over and Sky Stream is the future

Sky Q is no longer available to order online
Existing subscribers need not worry about losing service
Sky recommends Sky Glass and Sky Stream

It’s time to raise a glass to the dearly departed: Sky Q is no longer a new product you can buy, signaling the beginning of the end of satellite TV in the UK.

According to ISP Review, the Sky Store is now informing potential Q buyers that Sky Q is no longer available for purchase and instead directs them to the Sky Stream and Sky Glass products. The Sky Q page now says: “We’ve unplugged Sky Q. Plug in Sky Stream for less.”

It’s not a huge 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 an important step.

You can read our Sky Stream review to learn more about how this box works, as well as our reviews of the Sky Glass 2nd Gen and Sky Glass Air, which are the other options Sky would like you to choose.

Potential Sky Q buyers are instead directed to Sky Glass and Sky Stream. (Image credit: Future)

Why did Sky Q leave?

The company we know today as Sky began satellite broadcasting to the UK in 1989 with four channels: Sky Channel, a general interest channel; Eurosport; Sky News; and Sky Films. Over the years, this lineup was greatly expanded, and for those of us who lived outside of cable TV regions, it was the only way to improve the four-channel lineup of broadcast television.

It also became something of a status symbol: I remember being very impressed and extremely jealous of my classmates whose parents subscribed not just to the basic Sky package, but to the all-singing, all-dancing packages with more channels than you could ever hope to watch.

The reason for this transition to broadband television is simple: satellite broadcasting is expensive, and the current series of satellites is nearing the end of its expected 15-year lifespan. With so many of us already streaming over the Internet, there isn’t a huge market for satellite like there was in previous decades. And that means there’s no desire to invest a lot of money for what would be small returns.

If you’re currently a Sky Q subscriber, don’t worry: they’re not going to pull the plug on your service or remove the satellite dish from your chimney just yet. It’s likely we’ll still have satellite broadcasting until the end of the decade, maybe even longer – although you can read about what it means to move 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 is flowing.

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