British media company Sky Group is planning to cut 1,000 jobs over the next year as the company transitions to internet-based TV from satellite.
The majority of jobs cut will be concentrated in the Comcast-owned company’s engineering teams, primarily impacting those who install and service the satellite products, and will result in a reduction of about 4 percent of the business. It comes as the company says more of its customers are choosing to use the company’s streaming box Sky Stream and its new line of televisions, Sky Glass.
“The launch of Sky Glass and Sky Stream represents a shift in our business to deliver TV over IP [an internet connection] rather than satellite. Increasingly, customers are choosing Sky Glass and Sky Stream which don’t require specialist installation, and that has led us to change the number of roles we need to deliver our services,” a spokesperson for Sky said.
The company’s film and TV Studio, Sky Studios Elstree, still plans to create 2,000 jobs in its first three years since launch.
The cuts come amid broader reductions in U.K. media and telecom companies, including Channel 4 cutting 18 percent of its workforce as it seeks to be more digitally focused.
