Sky Q over broadband plans sidelined for now, development focused on satellite service

Back in 2017, Sky revealed plans to introduce a way of getting the Sky Q TV experience without a satellite dish.

Delivered entirely over broadband, the new version of the service kept popping up in year-end financial reports and during Sky events.

Sky since even launched the concept in Austria (Sky X) and Italy (Sky via Fibre), but has more recently gone silent over potential UK plans.

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Pocket-lint has learned that's because its broadband-only Sky Q plans have taken a back seat - they are still being considered internally, but development on the main satellite Sky Q service has taken greater priority.

"We have been working on it," explained Sky's group chief product officer, Fraser Stirling, to us during a briefing on the new features coming to Sky Q in July.

"[But] I'll be 100 per cent honest, it's a very powerful thing to have a hybrid platform like we do."

Instead, Stirling revealed that, in the UK, IP (Internet Protocol) delivery of content will be more beneficial to the company's existing Sky Q platform in the short term.

"We will move more and more of our services - like in how the product works - to be levered over IP," he added.

"That will include some channels. You will find linear content, VOD content, and other experiences that are going to be IP based, with a really solid backbone: that hybrid delivery part, which is satellite. [It] is going to play a key part of our future for quite some time."

Certainly, the July update already shows signs of how internet connectivity will benefit Sky Q. More apps are coming to the platform, and HDR has been added to Disney+.

In addition, the user interface has been redesigned and enhanced, while content suggestions have been refined in the backend to help you more easily find what you want to watch depending on the time of day.

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