Sky Q viewers have just a few hours left to buy a film of their choice from Sky Store — and let Sky pick up the bill.
The British broadcaster has offered £20 in credit to all subscribers who were left unable to watch television on May 15, when a technical glitch caused Sky Q boxes nationwide to enter standby mode without warning.
Sky Q boxes have two standby modes, either Active or Eco.
The latter consumes the smallest amount of energy and is designed to kick in between 2.30am and 5:45am. It takes a few minutes to wake up the Sky Q box from this state, while Active is designed to be a faster boot-up and allows recordings to continue to take place in the background.
According to a statement from Sky, a “technical issue” with its Sky Q software caused some set-top boxes “to go into a standby state” while subscribers were trying to watch television.
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Based on thousands of reports across social media and Sky support forums, Sky Q viewers were only able to wake their set-top box for a few moments before the standby glitch kicked in and switched off everything — leaving them staring at a blank screen. While the glitch was fixed within a few hours, Sky required many Sky Q owners to reboot their hardware for it to take hold.
We’re sorry some customers had trouble accessing Sky Q last night. There was a technical issue causing some Sky Q boxes to go into a standby state. Our technical support teams have resolved this. If you are still having trouble accessing your Sky Q services, please switch off the…
— Sky Help Team (@SkyHelpTeam) May 16, 2025
“We’re sorry some customers had trouble accessing Sky Q last night,” the Sky Help Team account shared on X, formerly Twitter. “There was a technical issue causing some Sky Q boxes to go into a standby state.
“Our technical support teams have resolved this. If you are still having trouble accessing your Sky Q services, please switch off the box at the power socket for 30 seconds and back on again to restore service. Please also reboot your main Sky Q box if you’re having trouble accessing a mini box.”
On the status dashboard for its services, Sky has acknowledged that some Sky Q viewers will continue to experience issues without taking the steps outlined below. In its latest bid to reach as many people as possible, the UK broadcaster has sent out a text message to Sky Q viewers
SKY TV PRESS OFFICE | GBN
The same advice was also sent out in a text message to Sky Q owners. With the glitch resolved, Sky has tried to make amends with a free gift from the Sky Store worth up to £20. It announced the generous giveaway in an email to those who were impacted by the overnight glitch.
It read: “We’re extremely sorry if you experienced disruption to your Sky Q services recently. We’re gifting you a Sky Store Buy & Keep movie — it’s our way of saying thank you for bearing with us.”
But that offer expires at 11.59pm on Saturday May 31. You must act fast to claim your free film.
Once you’ve chosen a title in the Sky Store, it’ll be yours to keep forever. Some films in the Sky Store offer both a digital download for your Sky Q box, and a DVD or Blu-ray disc sent out in the post.
In the wake of the nationwide outage, Sky has reassured subscribers that it’s “taking every step to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” and acknowledged how “frustrating it can be to lose access to your favourite shows and channels.”
Want to claim your free Sky Store film? Check the your inbox for an email from Sky about the offer, which has been sent out to subscribers who were impacted by the widespread Sky Q outage. Alternatively, you can go directly to the homepage on your Sky Q box, and head to the Sky Store.
Once there, look for the Your Sky Store Gift On Us tile, which should be at the top of the Sky Store screen. Click on this tile to browse the available movies. The free movie selection includes a range of popular blockbusters to choose from, including Bullet Train, Jumanji: The Next Level, Les Misérables, Venom, Gladiator II, Bridesmaids and The Equalizer.
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Why does it work so well? Over time, small glitches, memory leaks, or minor software bugs can build up, especially if a device has been running for days, weeks, or even months without a restart.
These issues can cause sluggishness, connectivity problems, or odd behaviour like menus freezing or remote controls becoming unresponsive.
Power-cycling forces the device to shut down completely — wiping its short-term memory (RAM), closing stuck processes, and refreshing internal components. It’s like giving your device a clean slate, without touching your saved data or reinstalling anything. Think of it as rebooting your brain with a good night’s sleep. It doesn’t fix everything, but it solves a surprising number of problems.
Since Sky engineers have issued a fix — or rolled-back the problematic software update behind the glitch — power-cycling your Sky Q box today has the benefit of forcing the operating system to check for updates while rebooting.
Sky Q was first announced back in 2015, but remains on-sale as the last set-top box from the UK broadcaster with a physical hard-drive and that relies on a satellite dish to beam live telly SKY TV PRESS OFFICE
How to Power-Cycle Your Sky Q Box
If your Sky Q box is still suffering from the Standby error and you’re unable to watch live television or anything stored in your Recordings — a proper power-cycle could be just the fix. Representatives from Sky have issued the following advice across social media, on its forums, and now, via text message.
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Turn off your Sky Q box
Press the standby button on your Sky Q remote or on the front of the box itself to power it down. Wait until the light on the front turns red — this confirms it’s in standby mode.
Step 2: Unplug the box from the mains
Locate the power cable and unplug it from the wall socket or power strip. This is key — simply putting the box in standby doesn’t fully reset it.
Step 3: Wait at least 30 seconds
This brief pause gives the internal memory time to fully clear and ensures any residual power in the circuits is discharged.
Step 4: Plug it back in
Reconnect the power cable to the mains and switch the socket back on.
Step 5: Wait for the box to reboot
You’ll see the Sky Q box go through its startup sequence. Give it a minute or two to fully boot up. The front light will go green when it’s ready.
Step 6: Turn it back on
Use your remote to turn the box back on. You should now be back in business — and hopefully, whatever issue you were experiencing has been resolved.
Sky Stream has never been this affordable. The broadcaster has just launched an affordable new bundle of channels and on-demand services, dubbed TV Essentials. It includes its plug-and-play Sky Stream box, over 100 live channels including Sky Atlantic — the exclusive home of shows like Game of Thrones, And Just Like That, and The White Lotus. You’ll also find a subscription to Netflix and Discovery+ included too and can upgrade to Sky Cinema and Sky Sports at an extra cost.
