Sky warns ‘no upgrade’ TV customers ‘your channels will be cancelled’

Sky has urged TV customers to claim their FREE TV box or lose the channels within weeks. Sky is phasing out SD (standard definition) channels in favor of just HD – and will upgrade affected customers if they are set to be affected.

Sky is warning customers that dated boxes will lose access to all their branded channels in June. Those affected include Digibox owners with models 4F01 to 4F08 (Amstrad) or 4E01 to 4E05 (Grundig) or 9F01 to 9F08 and 9F0A (Pace).

0F01 to 0F05 (Panasonic) and 4E06 to 4E08 (Thomson) are also affected. Sky Plus owners with models 4F2001 to 4F2006 (Amstrad) are also affected, as are owners of 4F2101 to 4F2118 and 9F2101 to 9F2137 (Amstrad or Pace).

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Those with a 9F2001 to 9F2024, PVR2, 9F2201 to 9F2235, 9F2301 to 9F2339 (Pace) and those with a 4E2101 to 4E2141 (Thomson) complete the list of affected models. “Without upgrading, any subscriptions you have to these channels will be cancelled,” the company says on its website.

Sky channels that have already disappeared include Sky Cinema Premiere and Sky Cinema Greats, as well as Sky Cinema Family, Sky Cinema Action, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. Sky Sports Football is also gone.

Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports F1 have also been axed, as have Sky Sports Action, Sky Sports Arena, MUTV and also Sky Sports Box Office. Ending SD satellite transmissions frees up satellite capacity, which costs companies money and ultimately falls on all customers to pay for – it’s hard to justify that cost when so few still use them.

Customers of Sky UK’s older TV services and devices, particularly those that only support watching standard definition (SD) channels, are being encouraged to upgrade their set-top boxes (STBs) before they “lose access to all Sky channels” – starting from June 2024.