ITV could disappear from your Sky box unless you upgrade to something new.
Those who love watching Coronation Street, This Morning and 1% Club might want to check their Sky box is fully up to date. It’s just been confirmed that ITV will soon stop beaming Standard Definition (SD) content into homes and if you have an older set-top device tucked under your TV that will spell the end of tuning into this service.
This update from ITV follows a similar announcement from the BBC who blocked SD shows and movies earlier this year.
Annoucing the news, ITV said: “Here at ITV, we have completed our upgrade to all-HD on satellite for ITV1, bringing the best picture quality to all satellite viewers.
“From October 2024, households with an SD-only satellite set-top box will need to upgrade to a high-definition (HD) satellite receiver to continue to watch ITV1. ITV1 and ITV2 nationally will no longer be available in SD on satellite.”
ITV says this update won’t affect those using Freeview, Virgin Media or satellite HD boxes.
If you think your Sky box might be well past its best there’s a very simple way to check that you’re not about to lose ITV access.
All you need to do is select channel 101 on your TV remote. If you then see BBC One HD you’re safe and will not be affected by the changes. If you see BBC One in SD, then you only have a few more weeks of watching content and it’s definitly time to upgrade your Sky box.
You can also press Services on your Sky remote the press 4 then 5 to check the version number of your box – if you see one of the codes listed below you going to lose access to a swathe of channels within weeks.
ALL THE SKY BOXES AFFECTED
Digibox
4F01 to 4F08 (Amstrad) • 4E01 to 4E05 (Grundig) • 9F01 to 9F08 and 9F0A (Pace) • 0F01 to 0F05 (Panasonic) • 4E06 to 4E08 (Thomson)
Sky+
4F2001 to 4F2006 (Amstrad) • 4F2101 to 4F2118 and 9F2101 to 9F2137 (Amstrad or Pace) • 9F2001 to 9F2024, PVR2, 9F2201 to 9F2235, 9F2301 to 9F2339 (Pace) • 4E2101 to 4E2141 (Thomson)
Don’t panic if your device is going to be made obsolete as Sky is offering free upgrades to a newer Sky Q box. Just call 0333 759 5121 to get things sorted although Sky is urging customers to do this as soon as possible to avoid long wait times. An engineer also need to visit so the faster you get it booked in the less chance you’ll have of losing a lot of channels next month.
