Installers are expected to face the brunt of job losses at the Comcast-owned Sky as the business continues to move away from the dish and towards new streaming products.
In a staff call with Sky’s operations team on Tuesday, employees were told that a consultation period will begin shortly ahead of an expected 1,000 job cuts.
The downsizing represents a loss of around 4% of the 26,000 staff Sky employees in the UK.
A “significant proportion” of the losses are expected to be within engineering teams. About a quarter of the broadcaster’s army of satellite installers are expected to go.
Insiders say that while many customers continue to be served through the Sky Q platform, the popularity of the IP-based products has meant the number of engineers required to install and service the products has needed to be reassessed.
The majority of new TV customers are choosing streaming products such as the puck-sized Sky Stream and the Sky Glass integrated television. This has resulted in a change of strategy for the broadcaster that has relied on both in-house and independent installers sice its inception in 1989.
It follows Monday’s announcement that Channel 4 will shed some 240 jobs, though the difference is that at the public broadcaster the roles are going in commissioning and programming.
Separately, the Sky Studios Elstree is anticpated to create a total of 2,000 jobs in its first three years of operation.
A spokesperson for Sky said: “The launch of Sky Glass and Sky Stream represents a shift in our business to deliver TV over IP (an internet connection) rather than satellite. Increasingly, customers are choosing Sky Glass and Sky Stream which don’t require specialist installation, and that has led us to change the number of roles we need to deliver our services.”
Eight out of 10 purchasers of the Sky Stream product are new to Sky – the product can be ordered by 9pm and still be with the customer for a self-install the following day. The Sky Glass Medium (55”) was the best-selling TV in the UK 2023.
