Sky’s New Satellite Service a Success

Sky’s satellite nightmare appears to be over, with the company successfully completing its controversial transition to a new satellite after months of interrupted service to some customers.

Here’s the media release:

Sky switches satellites

Early this morning, Sky switched satellite services to its new satellite. Initial testing shows that the switchover has been completed successfully, with the vast majority of customers switching over seamlessly.

In some instances, customers may need to re-start their box to continue watching (a simple process of turning the box off at the wall and waiting 10 seconds).

Sophie Moloney, Sky Chief Executive, said: “The programme to migrate to a new satellite has been a significant project for Sky over the past financial year, and technology projects of this scale always carry risk and complexity.

“We are delighted to confirm that the switch to the new satellite successfully occurred in the early hours of this morning.”

Post switchover testing and customer engagement activities are now underway.

Customer Care and Operations teams are working to support any customers who require assistance to connect to the new satellite and optimise their set up, noting that customers on the new Sky Box with sufficient broadband connectivity will continue to access services via IP if their satellite service is disrupted.

The new satellite is expected to deliver a superior signal strength to almost all of New Zealand. However, Sky is continuing to engage with customers in some parts of lower Southland, and upper Northland, where some properties may have reduced signal strength from the new satellite given their location.

Sky has already upgraded many dishes in these areas (including all customers in Gisborne and the East Cape that we believed might require support), but is working at pace to visit the remaining customers in areas where their properties may benefit from a dish upgrade or slight tweak of their set up.

In-home technician teams are located in these areas ready to support, and once this work is complete, all customers in these areas can expect reliable service from Sky.