topic Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ? in Sky Q

If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Roy0644 — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 17:56:24 GMT

Been with Sky for 25+ years

I upgraded to SkyQ to get the HD on my new telly. Happy to pay for it then. Definitely not happy to be still paying it in 2026!!!!!

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

SKY1992bf — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 17:59:45 GMT

@Roy0644 Because sky decide to charge for it, they aren't simply going to remove a multimillion pound money maker from sale as that will cut a huge hole in profits

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

MightyQuinn — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:02:35 GMT

Hi @Roy0644 What makes you think that Sky doesn't transmit SD content. If you cancel your HD sub, your EPG changes to the SD versions in place of the HD ones on the same channel numbers. You should find the SD versions on channels 8xx. For example Sky Showcase 106 and 806.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

nigea99 — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:18:02 GMT

hi @Roy0644

Just so you know, SKY & some other providers do still transmit several channels in SD - they did change the method of transmission (from DVB-S to DVB-S2) of the SD channels a couple of years ago which meant that that older SD only boxes could not support them but they are still SD

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Maniatore2006 — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:20:34 GMT

I wish Sky would stop SD TV, Finaly, and not Charge £9 a month more what should be Standard in 2026 But no, they had moved the SD Channels to DVB-S2 and MPEG4..

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

TimmyBGood — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:51:35 GMT

@Roy0644

Perhaps you are thinking of the end of life of the (extremely vintage) SD-only Sky+ receivers?

That's absolutely not the same thing as SD no longer being broadcast: the issue was that such antique hardware couldn't handle a newer satellite transmission protocol (technically the move from DVB-S to DVB-S2)

Edit: sorry @nigea99, your post didn't appear on my phone until after I'd written almost exactly the same thing ; )

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Roy0644 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 14:03:38 GMT

Thanks for all your replies.

I agree in this age of 4K, and soon 8K, charging extra for HD content is, in my opinion, profiteering at best.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

TimmyBGood — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 14:24:10 GMT

@Roy0644 wrote:

profiteering at best.

Well, making profit is what they are in business to do

I calculated a while ago that the HD supplement is probably worth about half a billion pounds a year to Sky Television, which is rather more than the whole of the profits from Sky Group. If that revenue stream wasn't there it would presumably have to be replaced by a general subscription increase which would affect everyone , including all those who currently don't choose to pay for the add-on.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

TimmyBGood — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 14:43:00 GMT

@Roy0644 wrote:

I agree in this age of 4K, and soon 8K,

8K upscaling by a local device, yes. There's very little likelihood of 8K distribution in the foreseeable future: aside from bandwidth issues there's almost no native content in that resolution because the workflow involved is distinctly non-trivial.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Chodley — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:20:17 GMT

@Roy0644 wrote:
Thanks for all your replies.

I agree in this age of 4K, and soon 8K, charging extra for HD content is, in my opinion, profiteering at best.

You know HD uses a lot more bandwidth than SD and satellite bandwidth is not cheap.

If you don't like it, don't pay it and have, what, an extra pint / maybe half a pizza a month?

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Maniatore2006 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:23:56 GMT

Yes, but SKY Could save a lot of Money when they would Shut of the SD Channels Like they done it with SKY Cinema.

Only Sky Sports is Still in SD on Satellite and no one can See it. ^^ what is more Waste.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Chodley — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:32:59 GMT

@Maniatore2006 wrote:
Yes, but SKY Could save a lot of Money when they would Shut of the SD Channels Like they done it with SKY Cinema.

Only Sky Sports is Still in SD on Satellite and no one can See it. ^^ what is more Waste.

And how many companies do you know that saved some money and passed it on to customers rather than their bottom line?

Is sports still transmitted in SD, that's bonkers.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Maniatore2006 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:47:04 GMT

SKY germany...

They has Charge the Customer 10€ Extra for HD, Until they Shut down the SD Channels.

Now all Customer have HDTV as Standard.

Only some Cable Prividers have some Channels in SD, but SKY Germany Changes this as Well this Year, the only Difrent is, the HD Channels will be Streaming only not Via DVB-C

Sky UK is, when it comes to HDTV., Yers behind the most Pay TV Providers in Europe, togenther with SKY IT..

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

oj01 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:47:57 GMT

@Chodley wrote:
@Maniatore2006 wrote:

Only Sky Sports is Still in SD on Satellite and no one can See it. ^^

Is sports still transmitted in SD, that's bonkers.

No, they're not. Only Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Mix (which aren't part of the Sports Pack) are available in SD.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Chodley — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:28:49 GMT

@Maniatore2006 wrote:
SKY germany...

They has Charge the Customer 10€ Extra for HD, Until they Shut down the SD Channels.

Now all Customer have HDTV as Standard.

Only some Cable Prividers have some Channels in SD, but SKY Germany Changes this as Well this Year, the only Difrent is, the HD Channels will be Streaming only not Via DVB-C

Sky UK is, when it comes to HDTV., Yers behind the most Pay TV Providers in Europe, togenther with SKY IT..

They seem to have halved their prices that year (2020) too - what was going on over there?! I see they charge for HD on their WOW streaming service though.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Maniatore2006 — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 08:40:02 GMT

At moment i have SKY Entertainment and on top for Free Sky Sports, i pay 5€ /Month... all in HD. And no, with the Streaming service WOW HD is also Standart.

My 5€/ Month, is a Special Price, but i kept it now for many years.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

TimmyBGood — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 10:02:58 GMT

@Maniatore2006 @Chodley

As we've discussed before, Sky Deutschland pricing strategy has proved so successful that Comcast divested Germany Austria and Switzerland to RTL last summer at a bargain rate because it's never actually made a profit...

Despite Sky making some progress with the German business over the past few years – Ampere believes Sky grew its combined pay TV and streaming base by 5.5% between Q1 2023 and Q1 2025 – it is understood that overall, the DACH business was not profitable. In 2023, Comcast reported a £1.2bn write-down on loans used to support its German and Italian operations in addition to a prior write-down on the overall value of Sky in 2022. It has been rumoured to be looking for a buyer for Sky Deutschland for a number of years.

https://www.ampereanalysis.com/insight/rtl-pushes-further-into-pay-and-streaming-with-sky-deutschland-acquisition

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Maniatore2006 — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 10:13:19 GMT

WOW, I told it you before, and if SKY UK not would have Mobile, Security and many more they also would Struggle.

SKY Germany has only the Pay TV.
And that has a lot of competitors, unlike in the UK, there is SKY some kind of Monopolist Since the Early 90s

But to rip of the customers, just to stay alive it the Wrong way.
With Poore Picture Quality in 2000s Style...

And by the way... Sky UK had just Luck, they almost Cut 900 jobs in 2025

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

TimmyBGood — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 10:16:53 GMT

@Maniatore2006 wrote:

But to rip of the customers, just to stay alive it the Wrong way.

Charging enough to stay open is a reasonably sensible basic business plan. If it turns out customers won't pay that much then it's probably not a good business to be in.

Re: If Sky no longer transmits SD signals why do I have to pay £9 a month for HD ?

Maniatore2006 — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 10:23:13 GMT

And i forgot to say, Sky UK has a Massive Problem with Ads.

Especially with the Entertaining Channels, the brings also money for SKY.

But also in between the Movies and also some Brakes with Live Sports..