Receiving Sky TV Without A Sky Dish

It’s coming guys and girls. If you have been unable to subscribe to Sky TV but have been unable for whatever reason to have a satellite dish, you will be able to soon be able to receive Sky TV without a satellite dish over your broadband connection.

When Can You Get Sky TV In UK In Without A Satellite Dish?

It was announced in early 2018 that Sky will be offering their TV service over a broadband connection with the release date for the service expected to be late 2018 or early 2019. It will be first launched in Italy, where Sky Italia currently has an around 70% market share and then released in Austria. From there in on it will be rolled out in “Key Markets”. I can only assume that the UK and Germany would fall into these key markets.

How To Get Sky Without A Dish

The Sky without a satellite dish service will be rolled out over the Sky Q service, which already utilises network cabling, WIFI and LAN’s for their multi-room service. You will need to connect your Sky Q box to the internet, which would be required in any case for the full benefit of the service like for catch up TV and interactive services. I recommend where possible to connect your Sky boxes to the internet via dedicated ethernet cables. This helps maximise to internet speed and reliability of the Sky service, there are other options like connecting over WIFI and powerline connections, but both would offer an inferior performance when compared to dedicated cat5 or cat6/7 data cables.

Should I Keep My Satellite Dish?

In my opinion I think it will be a good idea where possible to still continue using a satellite dish instead of opting for a purely internet-based service. I say where possible because there will be situations where having a Sky dish installed could be problematic, like on listed buildings or installations where the satellite dish needs to be installed very high on a chimney for example to get a clear line of sight from nearby trees and buildings.

The reason I recommend keeping satellite dish where possible is because the satellite dish will be providing you with extra bandwidth to accompany your broadband connection. In the days where everything is connected, smart phones, TV’s, computers, PC’s, tablets etc and add in the fact that most homes and families will have multiple people all sharing a single broadband connection these will all be fighting for your download bandwidth speed. The more devices that you have connected the slower your broadband will run, especially when people connected to your network are streaming video which is very common on sites like Youtube, and also things like Facebook and Twitter where videos auto-play as you scroll past them. A fast broadband connection can easily run slow with multiple people using it. When you start steaming all of your TV over this too it will be placing further demands on your internet connection and when running slow could cause buffering and loss of connection on all of your devices. For this reason, I recommend sticking with your satellite dish, it’s extra dedicated free dedicated bandwidth. This is particularly important where you are trying to receive Sky in a slow broadband area. This will change over time as the broadband network is improved but as many already know this could be a few years yet.

Benefits Of Not Using A Satellite Dish For Sky TV

There are some benefits of not using a satellite dish when Sky TV offers a no dish option. Here are some of the reasons and scenarios that you may want to consider it:

1-     If you live in a built-up area and cannot receive a satellite signal

You may have some nearby buildings of trees that are preventing you from getting a satellite signal on your property. In which case TV over a broadband connection could be exactly what you’re looking for.

2-     Save You Money On A Satellite Dish

Sky often offer “FREE” of discounted satellite dish installation for those taking out a Sky subscription. If you live in an area where the satellite dish needs to be installed high up on a wall or chimney, or you require the satellite dish to be kept discreet, like on a pole mounted down the end of the garden. Sky will often refuse to carry out these installations recommending that you seek the services of a sub-contractor or independent aerial and satellite installation company, like us! Obviously if the TV can be provided over an existing internet connection it could save you money of satellite dish installations and repairs.

3-     Areas Where Satellite Dishes Are Prohibited

You may live in an area where externally mounted satellite dishes are not allowed. This is very common on listed buildings where the building needs to be kept in as original condition as when it was built or on new build estates and private neighbourhoods where covenants which may be in place ban the fixing of an external antenna.

4-     You May Just Not Want A Satellite Dish

Despite the mini-dishes that are required for Sky TV in the UK being very small in size when compared to other types of satellite dish. Having one installed on the front of the house may not be what you want to aesthetical reasons. In which case having the TV provided over your broadband supply may be very appealing.

Is This End Of The Satellite Dish?

If you ask any aerial or satellite company or any aerial and satellite dish installer. They will tell you that one day, all TV and services will be provided over the internet. This is why most companies like ours have diversified the services that they offer so that they now do other things like, CCTV, Data Cabling, General AV etc.

But I still think that to say that this is the end of the satellite dish is still a bit premature. This is because Sky isn’t the only service that is offered over. In the UK a large proportion of the TV market uses Freesat, a non-subscription free TV service offered by the BBC and ITV and uses the same satellites as Sky. Also, if you want to receive foreign TV from places like France, Germany, Italy, Polish etc then you would still require a satellite dish.

Also, there are many parts of the UK where the broadband service is very slow or non-existent. In which case a satellite dish would still be the most suitable option for Sky TV. Finally, and I know that young people reader this will just not understand. Many people offer full and happy lives without the internet. I mean what would people do without Facebook or Youtube. You wouldn’t be reading this article for one but having a Sky dish in these scenarios would be again be the only option for those wanting to receive Sky TV.

Advice For Streaming TV Over Internet

If you are intending to take Sky up on their no dish option. I recommend a few things to make sure that you are getting the best possible broadband speed for you TV service.

1-     Upgrade Your Broadband Service

I recommend upgrading any broadband services that you’re subscribing to. I’m sure that Sky will offer you a good deal when taking their broadband service at the same time but where possible I recommend taking over fibre or unlimited packages where possible to ensure that your speed is not being throttled. Fibre deals are relatively inexpensive nowadays and just bare in mind that “unlimited” broadband rarely actually means unlimited – there will be a limit!

2-     Hard wire TVs With Ethernet Cables

I have already mentioned that anything that is streaming TV over the internet that a wired connection will out perform a wired connection, so where possible try and connect your Smart TV’s and set top boxes with ethernet cables. Remember, wires for things that don’t move, wireless for things that do.

3-     Optimise Your Telephone System

This will just help preserve your internet connection so that anything to do with your telephone system won’t ruin your connection. I recommend that you have an up to date telephone master socket installed with a filtered faceplate – usually done if your upgrade to fibre broadband at the same time and disconnect any redundant unused telephone extension cabling.

Now TV

If you want to receive Sky programmes over your internet connection without a satellite dish and can’t wait until the no dish option is released in late 2018 or 2019 then you can receive many of their services over Now TV. It doesn’t have all the benefits of a full Sky subscription but you can receive Sky programmes without being tied into a long contract. Now TV can be purchased as a 30-day rolling service or you can but day passes, or week passes for sports or entertainment. Perfect for when there is a sports event that you want to watch but don’t want to subscribe to pay TV services. I myself have done this with the Darts which is only on for a couple of weeks and I only want to watch the last week.

I hope that you liked the article. If you have any questions please LEAVE A COMMENT in the section below. I would love to help everyone in an ideal world but we cannot offer telephone support. I am not being rude but our lines are very busy and I don’t have enough hours in the day. Unless of course you are based in Sussex or Kent and would like to book in some work. In which case, please do contact us.