- Sky Live cameras will stop working on the 4th of December
- All customers – paid upfront and paid monthly – will get a refund
- Don’t forget to recycle
Sky Live, the Kinect-esque camera accessory for the Sky Glass TV, will shut down in December 2025 – and by shut down, I mean exactly that. If you’re a current Sky Live user, your camera will simply stop working on the 4th of December.
The camera launched in 2023 as a companion for the Sky Glass TV and was designed to expand your TV’s capabilities by enabling you to use it as a workout coach, as a controller for motion-controlled gaming, to enable screen sharing with other households and to make Zoom calls.
For Sky Glass users it delivered a lot of features, but its hardware exclusivity meant that it was always going to be catering for a relatively small market. So it’s not a huge surprise that Sky has decided to pull the plug on the hardware and its services.
Sky tells us that “all Sky customers that purchased Sky Live will receive a refund for the amount they’ve paid towards the device.” And to soften the blow, Sky is also giving everyone who bought one a free 12-month subscription to the Mvmnt fitness app – albeit in its non-motion-tracking version.
Why is Sky Live being shut down?
Sky says it’s refocusing, that it’s proud of the “ambition” behind Sky Live – which to me reads like corporate speak for “it didn’t attract enough customers” – and that it’s learnt a lot from the project. In a statement, Sky told us:
It’s given us valuable learnings that are helping to shape the future of our products. The most popular feature was gaming, which is why we’ve continued to bring even more games to Sky Glass and Sky Stream, with something for everyone in the family, including Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
We’re focusing our investment where it matters most to customers — faster, simpler products, unbeatable content and brilliant service. Customers who purchased Sky Live will be refunded.
Refunding Sky Live customers is a classy move, I think, because Sky Live wasn’t cheap: £290 if you bought it outright, or £6 per month. If you’re still paying for one, you’ll be refunded for whatever you’ve paid so far, and future payments will stop.
You can return your Sky Live directly to Sky via a pre-paid label, or take it to your local electrical recycling centre.
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