[cable]

It was announced somewhere that Sky have renewed their satellite leases until 2027 I think it was, so the suggestion earlier in the thread about Sky dropping that and pushing Sky Stream or Signature as their "lead" is a non starter until then at the earliest.

Tis a fair point, however there's a number of factors that should be considered. I should clarify that I did not suggest a total end to satellite services as of course it is used for Freesat and many free-to-air channels based at 28.2deg and imply that they might heavily reduce the number of transponders they operate now that there is HD switchover in effect, VOD replacing Sky box office and by then possibly the cinema channels. It's not hard to notice streaming services (e.g. Disney+) cannibalising its movies service and it's somewhat unclear what the market will look like in a few years. With Discovery, VIAPLAY and others, Sports could be going the same way often long cited as the glue that retains subscribers.

Comcast is a cable company and its background and resources lend itself to developing Sky broadband as means of a delivery platform. Stream/Glass could be used as a way to market Sky Broadband by tying these up into a bundled package alongside a sky Mobile SIM similar to BTTV. Instead of a TV first approach, For example the Glass TV could become effectively free and "rented" to you for as long as you remain in contract with the broadband. Let's be honest, there is currently little value to owning the TV outright as it mainly relies on the subscription features. Seemingly there has been some amount churn with some of those who have it tried it, have eventually returned it.

In its current marketing, Sky are preferring to push the Sky glass/stream, when was the last advert for SkyQ shown? its other marketing actives revolve around its content e.g. Sky Store, Sports, Cinema and Entertainment. Along with Now TV, I dare say the streaming first approach is well underway. Go to the Sky homepage at the moment, the only Q reference is for Q-lite. everything is pushing stream, glass and broadband.

By the time the leases are up, SkyQ will be over 10 years old and its hardware will be a limiting factor. the Entertainment OS used by both Glass and Stream appears to be fundamentally different to the one on SkyQ, it does not make sense to develop 2 ecosystems with the associated support and development costs. It is clear that there are divergent issues e.g. support for ITVX. It could be they do a BT of it and launch a hybrid box that can do satellite and streaming but there will become a point it reaches in the product lifecycle where costs to support are too high. Not to mention the costs saved by not having to install and maintain satellite dishes. The argument for the boxes still working e.g. SkyHD is there will become a point where software updates cease.

The lifetime of the actual satellites themselves is also coming up around the same time, having launched around 2012-2015 with a mission duration of 15 years. So the orbital position could look very different in years to come.