Watch on a Sky Q or Sky+ HD box? A shake-up to the TV Guide will be coming on October 9 that promises to relocate 12 popular channels on the satellite boxes.
The latest overhaul will tidy-up the entertainment and factual sections the TV Guide, which has seen a steady decline in the number of channels featured since the latest major shake-up to these satellite boxes in May 2018.
When the latest update is completed, the gaps left by recent channel closures will be closed, so the channel numbers follow sequentially again. Since Sky’s last major update, closures of channels like TruTV, VH1, AMC, YourTV, and Lifetime have left numerous gaps in the lineup.
Key channels impacted by the latest reshuffle include PBS America, Discovery History, Court TV, and Rewind TV.
The change will also relocate BBC Scotland HD for anyone living outside of Scotland. The channel, popular for Scottish football coverage, will relocate to channel 180 for UK viewers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Crucially, the update will only impact set-top boxes that still rely on satellite dishes. The latest hardware from Sky TV only streams live and on-demand television via Wi-Fi or ethernet, with no need for a satellite dish. The popularity of the best Sky Glass deals and best Sky Stream deals has lead management to cut 1,000 jobs, mostly from the satellite engineering department.
After the changes, the entertainment section of the TV Guide will conclude at Channel 183. This update follows similar reorganisations in the music, sport, children’s, international, and radio sections in recent years.
Here’s a comprehensive list of the affected channels with their old and new numbers:
The refresh will only take place on set-top boxes that still rely on a satellite dish, like Sky Q (pictured above) and the older Sky+ HD, which is still supported but no longer on-sale
SKY TV PRESS OFFICE
The channel reshuffle will affect Sky Q and Sky+HD users in the UK and Ireland. As mentioned above, those watching on Sky Glass and Sky Stream will not experience any changes. The automatic channel update is set to complete during the morning of October 9, 2024.
The latest refresh to the TV Guide on Sky hardware follows Freesat’s own channel reorganisation at the beginning of this month. It’s also worth remembering those with non-HD compliant versions of the Sky+ hardware will lose access to a number of popular ITV channels in the coming weeks.