SKY Q viewers can expect a number of changes coming soon with imminent channel closures and the arrival of new streaming services.
While a lot of focus is now on the company’s streaming TV products, Sky Glass and Sky Stream, bosses have assured that Q loyalists won’t be left behind.
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Fraser Stirling, Global Chief Product Officer for Comcast and Sky, said this week that Sky Q will “be with us for a while” after revealing a new Sky Glass gen 2.
So what’s in store for Sky Q over the coming months and beyond?
Read on to find out.
Channel closures
News of channel closures are never welcome – especially if it means you will have to pay more to continuing accessing the programmes shown on affected channels.
Sky Q is not immune to Eurosport’s upcoming shutdown, which is now only two weeks away.
Both Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2 are disappearing from the UK entirely after 35 years of broadcasting.
Much of their content is shifting to TNT Sports channels, owned by the same company as Eurosport, Warner Bros Discovery.
A subscription to access TNT Sports, as well as the Discovery+ streaming service, costs £30 per month.
Some content will remain free on the Quest channel.
Streaming revamp
Sky Q has only recently received access to the My5 streaming service.
But the platform will be replaced very soon with a whole new app, simply called 5.
It’s expected to include even more binge-worthy TV boxsets, as well as streamed channels.
Max launch
Looking further ahead to 2026, a huge change to the streaming landscape is coming with yet another app.
Max is available in many countries already but has been held up from launching in the UK over an existing deal with Sky.
Much of the shows on Max are currently shown on Sky Atlantic but a new agreement has been reached paving the way for Max’s UK arrival.
Sky customers will get access to the service at no extra cost.
And the firm has confirmed that the app will be available on Sky Q too.
Max is owned and operated by Warner Bros Discovery, the same company that runs Discovery+.
It’s quite likely Discovery+ will close down as a result of Max’s launch bringing the two together, as this has already happened in other countries.
Will viewers care for another streaming app?
Analysis by Millie Turner, Senior Technology & Science Reporter for The Sun.
Max – formerly HBO Max – is finally coming to the UK.
And while Warner Bros. will have certainly mapped out its potential consumer market across the country and the rest of Europe – will Brits really buy into another streaming app?
Following the announcement of Warner Bros Discovery’s intentions earlier this year, social media – unexpectedly – didn’t flood with viewers exuding relief and excitement that their long wait was over.
Sentiment towards streaming apps is growing more sour worldwide, but particularly in the UK, as consumers feel ‘nickle and dimed’ into price hikes.
Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video all either increased their subscription costs last year, or brought previously free features behind a paywall.
That, alongside a Netflix-induced trend to block account sharing among family and friends, has left consumers feeling either ripped off – or that they need to trim down the number of apps they watch.
Plenty of social media users have vowed to stop paying for another streaming service, and are instead hopping from one to the next with monthly memberships.
