The Sky satellite channel list shrinks dramatically in a year dominated by concerns over the TV advertising market and an ongoing technical migration ending SD/HD simulcasts of some channels.
- Niche and international channels drop off Sky.
- Larger broadcasters end simulcasts and look to cut their channel portfolio.
- Most affected channels were free-to-air and not part of a Sky subscription.
The scale of the seismic changes to traditional broadcast channels became clear this year with nearly 70 channels removed from the Sky satellite channel list.
Sky’s satellite TV service once provided the largest range of live TV channels available in one place in the UK and has seen the biggest impact from broadcasters cutting back, removing HD/SD simulcasts, withdrawing services altogether, or falling into administration.
Broadcasters suffering a downturn in the TV advertising market and a surge of streaming services now also seeking a slice of the ad market, have been moving to reduce the cost of distributing multiple versions of their channels. ITV, Channel 4 and Sky all withdraw some SD channels this year, ending HD/SD simulcasts that had been ongoing in some cases well over a decade.
In the summer, Channel 4 closed its music channel business, ending The Box, 4 Music, Kiss, Kerrang and Magic TV channels. At the beginning of the year, a press release from Channel 4 announcing details of its Fast Forward strategy hinted other channels might eventually be cut.
International and niche channels struggle
But numerous smaller broadcasters have struggled, with niche interests increasingly better served by on-demand services and streaming-only channels. International channels including Pakistan’s PTV Global and Dunya News dropped off Sky this year.
The teleshopping industry continued to suffer this year with Create & Craft and sister channel Craft Extra crashing into administration in October. Other shopping channels to disappear this year include JML Direct and Home Shop TV.
Only few moved directly from satellite to online-only
Two channels – News UK’s TalkTV and Narrative Entertainment’s Tiny Pop – migrated to streaming this spring. But in August, Tiny Pop returned to traditional broadcasting. At the time, Narrative’s MD Paul Dunthorpe said “it’s clear that we’ll better serve our audiences by increasing Tiny Pop’s distribution on linear.” Although Tiny Pop continues as a traditional broadcast channel on Sky, it’s gone back to streaming only on Freeview.
The majority of the channels delisted from Sky in 2024 were non-subscription channels. As far as the channels covered by a Sky subscription are concerned, the main change was the closure of SD simulcasts of Sky Cinema and Sky Sports channels.
▶ List of Sky Satellite TV channels that have closed in 2024
RXTV has complied a list of channels that have delisted from Sky. Notably, the withdrawal of SD simulcasts has thinned out the 800-899 channel range considerably. Although 70 channels are listed, the exact number of removed channels varies by region. Northern Irish viewers were, for example, also impacted by changes at RTÉ and TG4, but were not affected by STV’s SD change, therefore the actual figure in most regions is between 60 and 70 channels.
Exclusions
- The following list excludes channels that rebranded – e.g. Sky Sports Arena HD to Sky Sports+ or That’s TV3 to That’s Christmas. It also excludes channels on-air for less than two weeks (such as pop-up channels and the ill-fated Seen On TV which left days after launching). RXTV is also not including channels that were temporarily suspended from Sky due to technical or financial difficulties. Radio stations are also excluded from the list.
Full list:
(Confirmed closures up to 20th December 2024. A Sky platform freeze is in place for the remainder of the calendar year.)
- 4Music */**
- 92 News
- Ayozat TV
- BBC Alba SD
- BBC One SD
- BBC Two SD
- BBC Three SD
- BBC Four SD
- BBC News SD
- BBC Parliament SD
- BBC RB 1 SD
- BBC Scotland SD
- British Muslim TV
- Channel 4 SD
- Channel 7
- Create & Craft**
- Craft Extra**
- DAZN 1 HD
- DAZN PPV HD
- Direct Store
- Dunya News
- EarthxTV **
- E! **/^
- Get Lucky
- Great! Real
- Great! Real+1
- Home Shop TV
- HSTV4
- Inspiration TV
- ITV1 SD
- ITV2 SD
- ITV3 SD
- ITV4 SD
- ITVBe SD
- JML Direct
- Kerrang! */**
- KICC TV
- Kiss */**
- Magic */**
- MUTV SD
- New Media TV
- PTV Global
- RTÉ One SD (NI only)
- RTÉ Two SD (NI only)
- TalkTV */**
- The Box */**
- TG4 SD (NI only)
- TJC SD
- Samaa TV
- Siraj TV
- Sky Cinema Action SD
- Sky Cinema Family SD
- Sky Cinema Greats SD
- Sky Cinema Premiere SD
- Sky Cinema Premiere+1
- Sky Intro SD
- Sky Sports Box Office SD
- Sky Sports Action SD
- Sky Sports Arena SD
- Sky Sports Cricket SD
- Sky Sports F1 SD
- Sky Sports Football SD
- Sky Sports Golf SD
- Sky Sports Main Event SD
- Sky Sports Premier League SD
- Sporty Stuff TV **
- STV Aberdeen SD & STV Glasgow SD
- UTV SD (NI only)
- Viaplay Xtra
- XXXPublicpikups
*Was also available on Sky Glass/Stream. **Also closed on non-satellite TV platforms. ^Closed at 23:59:59 31/12/2023, but removed from Sky EPG in 2024.
Channel closure categories
The above channel closures can be grouped into the following four categories:
- Standard definition (SD) simulcast closing. The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky have withdrawn a number of SD simulcasts. This has resulted in a marked reduction in channels listed between 800-899 on the Sky channel list.
- Streaming transition. TalkTV withdrew from traditional broadcast platforms to continue as an online streaming service only.
- Niche channels withdrawing from the market. A number of channels in the international, adult and shopping genres have ceased broadcasting altogether.
- Broadcaster withdrawing from a particular market. Viaplay Xtra and 4Music are examples of channels that have closed after their parent broadcaster have withdrawn from either a geographic or genre-based market.
By: Marc Thornham | image: Sky