SKY Q viewers will no longer find two much-loved channels on their screens in the latest TV shake-up.
The move also affects Sky+ and Sky+HD customers, as the duo disappear from satellite broadcasting altogether.
Fortunately, there are still ways to enjoy watching shows shown on both.
The channels in question are Sky History +1 SD and Sky History 2 HD.
They air big hits including UnXplained with William Shatner and docu-drama Washington.
The move means viewers will no longer be able to catch shows they missed an hour later on Sky History +1 SD, via channel number 223.
But the main Sky History channel will still continue to broadcast as normal.
Time shift channels have been increasingly less useful in the age of streaming, with most shows available to watch on-demand whenever you want instead of relying on the +1 hour broadcast.
However, Sky History 2 HD may be seen as a far greater loss to viewers.
Sky History 2 will still be available but viewers on Sky Q and Sky+HD will have to settle with watching shows in SD (standard definition) instead.
Both channels exist as part of a partnership between Sky and Hearst Networks UK, the latter of which owns the History Channel brand.
The pair also run channels Blaze and Crime+Investigation together, which are unaffected by the changes.
Only last month the two companies signed a new deal to continue broadcasting channels together in the UK.
Sky History, previously known as the History Channel, has been available in the UK since 1995 and Ireland since 1999.
The channel is home to a number of hit shows, including Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, The Royal Kill List, and Gunpowder Siege, as well as local commissions Ross Kemp: Mafia and Britain and Royal Autopsy.
Future of satellite TV
Sky has largely focused its newest product releases on streamed TV in recently years, with Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
Both rely on an internet connection instead of a satellite dish, with Sky Glass packing everything into the TV itself so you don’t even need a set-top box.
In February a new version of the device called Sky Glass Gen 2 was unveiled, just four years after the first.
Meanwhile, Sky Q is now nine years old with no new kit in sight.
Sky bosses have insisted that Sky Q will “be with us for a while” for satellite loyalists.
“It’s [Sky Q] still a great product,” said Fraser Stirling, Global Chief Product Officer for Comcast and Sky.
“Customer satisfaction is really good still and the reason it’s good is because we’re still invested in it.
“We still update software on that – we don’t do it as often as we do on Stream and Glass for technical reasons as well as other reasons – but Sky Sports+ is on Sky Q, Max next year is coming to Sky Q.
“Sky Q is still a big focus for us and all the millions of people that use it and love it use it every single day.
“It’s going to be with us for a while so we want to make sure that it’s always investing in people.”
Will more channels close soon?
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
The BBC announced in 2022 that CBBC and BBC Four would disappear as traditional linear channels in a few years and go digital only via iPlayer.
However, the pair may have had a bit of a reprieve for now, after the BBC’s head of children’s programmes, Patricia Hildago, recently said “it’s really important… that if children still need us on a linear network, we’re going to be there for them”.
When Channel 4 announced the closure of The Box and other music channels it owned in January, the broadcaster hinted that more could come.
At the time the company said it was proposing to “close small linear channels that no longer deliver revenues or public value at scale, including the Box channels in 2024 and others at the right time”.
So which could the “others” be? It really depends what Channel 4 considers “small” but its other channels include More4, E4, E4 Extra, Film4 and 4Seven.
