Sky is the UK’s largest pay-TV broadcaster with 12.7 million customers as of the end of 2019 and its digital satellite TV platform was the UK’s most popular digital TV service until it was overtaken by Freeview in April 2007. Sky’s flagship product is Sky Q and its flagship channels are Sky One and Sky Atlantic.

Sky Q

On 18 November 2015, Sky announced Sky Q, a range of products and services to be available in 2016. The Sky Q range consists of three set-top boxes (Sky Q 1TB, Sky Q 2TB and Sky Q Mini), a broadband router (Sky Q Hub) and mobile applications.

The Sky Q set-top boxes introduce a new user interface, Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, Power-line and Bluetooth connectivity and a new touch-sensitive remote control. The Sky Q Mini set-top boxes connect to the Sky Q set-top boxes with a Wi-Fi or Power-line connection rather than receive their own satellite feeds. This allows all set-top boxes in a household to share recordings and other media. Sky Q Mini boxes are not capable of UHD playback due to hardware limitations.

Sky Q became available to order on 9 February 2016 and is currently the only range available to new customers.

Unlike Sky, Sky+, and Sky+ HD boxes, Sky Q boxes remain the property of Sky and must be returned when the contract ends. Charges of up to £140 per item apply for unreturned items – Sky claims this charge does not buy the equipment, which must still be given back.^[57]

4K UHD

The Sky Q 2TB set-top box is capable of receiving and displaying 4K UHD broadcasts. HDR added 27 May 2020, alongside the launch of Sky Nature and Sky Documentary channels. The HLG format is to be included on a select number of UHD VoD downloads, starting with Sky Nature before being added to other channel content. UHD broadcasts started on 13 August 2016, with the first live Premier League football match of the 2016/17 season, Hull vs Leicester City. UHD broadcasts are available free of charge to Sky Q 2TB multiscreen customers with any other relevant subscriptions.

Faults

Bad weather can interfere with the satellite signal, which can reduce picture quality. It’s possible that blowing winds are the cause of the problem, in which case it’s best just to wait for the storm to pass. However, if the weather is fine, you might check the status of the service. It is possible that your Internet service has been interrupted, in which case you will still need to wait it out too. You might try rebooting your Sky box and checking two or three connections if no network outage is reported in your area. The majority of sky box faults can be solved by this standard troubleshooting method.

How to Reset your Sky Box

1. 1. Start by pressing the standby button on your Sky box remote. For models with recording capacity, wait for the Hard Drive to stop spinning (it should take about a minute or so).
   2. Switch off everything, including your Sky box, TV and all connected peripherals and devices.
   3. Switch off the mains and then disconnect the Sky box (make sure that all the lights are out). DON’T take the small plug out of the power socket at the back of the Sky box, and be careful not to touch this plug while the cable is live because you could cause an internal fuse to blow and do major damage to the internal circuits.
   4. Check the rear panel of your Sky box for loose or disconnected cables. Pay special attention to the HDMI and SCART cables, they should be firmly attached at both the TV and Sky box ends.
   5. Wait five minutes and then switch everything back on for a straightforward Sky box reboot. The lights will come on after a few minutes, but if you want to download the latest firmware, skip this step and move to step 6. Note: this should only be done if your Sky box hasn’t updated for a while. Also, this step must NOT be done if the signal is missing or problematic.
   6. On the front panel press and hold down the Backup button and switch on the power at the wall socket
   7. Keep holding down the Backup button until the front panel LED light comes on.
   8. Wait until the Sky box changes to Standby (this should take about 10 minutes) and then reboot your Sky box again, without holding down the button.