An artist's impression of Sky TV's Koreasat 6 satellite, which has taken over from the Optus D2 satellite.
An artist's impression of Sky TV's Koreasat 6 satellite, which has taken over from the Optus D2 satellite.
A nervous early morning for Sky TV as it switches hundreds of thousands of customers to its new satellite. Here’s what to do if you are facing any issues.
Sky TV has this morning switched to its new satellite, 36,000km above Earth, and most customers have changed over seamlessly. Itwas a “huge relief”, a Sky TV spokeswoman told Media Insider.
Sky says a small number of black- and white-box customers might need to reboot their machines – a simple turn off/turn on at the wall for 10 seconds should do the trick.
After months of issues with its ailing and wobbly Optus D2 satellite causing bad TV reception for many customers, the pay TV company started the switchover to its new Koreasat 6 satellite about 4.30am on Tuesday morning.
“And now we wait… apocalypse or success,” one customer wrote on an unofficial Sky TV customer complaints page on Facebook.
Most of the feedback on the Facebook page – which has more than 9000 followers – indicated that the switchover was progressing positively, especially for those with black boxes.
Customers’ TV reception was expected to be affected for up to 90 minutes while the changeover occurred.
Those customers with a black Sky Box were presented with a T100 message, saying “atmospheric conditions have temporarily interrupted your viewing”.
The message that Sky black box customers would have seen during the satellite switchover.
“And just like that it has come back on,” one black-box customer wrote on Facebook. “I hope that’s a good indicator.”
Those with white boxes should have been automatically switched to a broadband internet connection while the changeover happened.
However, a small number of white box customers were having issues, judging by comments on the Facebook page.
“Turned our white box on about 20 minutes ago. Working fine. Then it went off and said it was reconnecting to satellite. Then said had to reboot. Still waiting, not doing anything,” one customer wrote.
Another said: “Seemed to work ok. Then up popped ‘something went wrong.’ Whoops, there was an unknown error, retry??? Could be a long day for Sky…”
Sky TV said initial testing showed the switchover had been completed successfully, “with the vast majority of customers switching over seamlessly”.
“In some instances, customers may need to restart their box to continue watching (a simple process of turning the box off at the wall and waiting 10 seconds),” said a spokeswoman.
In a statement, Sky chief executive Sophie Moloney said technology projects of this scale always carried “risk and complexity”.
“We are delighted to confirm that the switch to the new satellite successfully occurred in the early hours of this morning,” she said.
“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.”
She said the new satellite was expected to deliver a “superior signal strength to almost all of New Zealand”.
A message on Sky TV's social media channels this morning.
Sky was “continuing to engage” with customers in parts of lower Southland, and upper Northland, where some properties might 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.”
According to an investor presentation in February, the company has 465,000 customers with Sky Boxes or Sky Pods, down from 501,000 a year ago.
The satellite switchover comes after months of pain for thousands of Sky customers who have been suffering intermittent (and sometimes full) loss of TV reception.
Sky TV customers have been posting videos, images and stories of their satellite issues since late last year.
The issues have been caused by the existing and ageing Optus D2 satellite – it is fading fast, running out of fuel and wobbling in an inclined orbit.
In an email to customers in early April, Sky told customers that its switchover to Koreasat 6 was on track for the week beginning Monday, April 14.
Sky said customers needed to keep their black Sky Box “plugged in and turned on” at the wall until the switchover is complete (the box can be on standby mode).
This was for two important reasons, said the spokeswoman - one, to ensure customers receive the latest software upgrade, and two, to support an automatic and quick switch to the new satellite.
A spokeswoman said the switchover would take place early in the morning.
“We’re anticipating the switchover process will take around an hour, which is why we’re doing it in the early hours of the morning – hopefully most customers won’t even notice it’s happened.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
