[southern_boy]

I wouldn't be too surprised if the eventual successor to Sky Q is designed to work with either internet or satellite input. Maybe even using the satellite input as a fallback for when there's poor or no internet connectivity.

That way they can still offer a service to those who live in remote locations where internet is currently limited, whilst futureproofing the devices for if they decide to move more services to IP only. Given that Sky Q was launched in 2016 I imagine that some of the earlier devices may be nearing end of life, as well as quite a bit having changed since then. Worth noting that Sky Q boxes do apparently have an ethernet and Wi-Fi connections.

I wouldn't be too surprised if between now and 2028 some of the services currently available on satellite start to move to being delivered by IP only, to save on satellite costs. I imagine they'll want to migrate any remaining Sky+ (SD and HD) customers, and get them onto either Sky Stream or Sky Q. In terms of channels axing +1 channels on satellite will probably be coming soon, possibly still allowing them to be received via IP delivery.

Still offering services over satellite would remove any benefit to Sky of moving people to IP though. Once Sky has paid for the signals to sit on the satellite, it costs them the same if 1 person or 1 million people have their mini-dishes pointed at it. The only time Sky makes a real saving is when they remove channels from satellite completely. That being said, they could offer a FTA backup for satellite, like they currently do for DTT.