Sky to axe 1,000 engineers amid streaming shift

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 31 January 2024

Sky announces plans to cut around 1,000 jobs - mostly dish installers - as customers instead adopt its Sky Glass and Sky Stream products.

Sky has informed staff of plans to slash its workforce by around 1,000 due to a reduced demand for dish installations.

The broadcaster is heavily pushing its Sky Glass and Sky Stream products, which deliver the Sky service over broadband internet rather than satellite.

Both products are also plug and play, meaning that no specialist installation is required - removing the need for an engineer visit.

Sky is understood to have told workers that most of the 1,000 job losses will come from the engineering department, representing a reduction of around 4% in the total estimated workforce of between 26,000 and 27,000.

A spokesperson said: "The launch of Sky Glass and Sky Stream represents a shift in our business to deliver TV over IP (an internet connection) rather than satellite.

"Increasingly, customers are choosing Sky Glass and Sky Stream which don't require specialist installation, and that has led us to change the number of roles we need to deliver our services."

The move does not signal Sky's intent to phase out satellite delivery in the near future, with the vast majority of its customer base taking Sky Q or Sky+.

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