Whether you were trying to watch the Eurovision Semi-Final or catch-up on the latest episode of The Last Of Us, if you use a Sky Q box to watch television — you probably didn't watch anything last night. A major glitch with Sky Q caused thousands of set-top boxes to switch themselves off, leaving subscribers staring at blank screens.
At the peak of the outage, more than 33,000 Sky TV subscribers were complaining about the issues. Sky Q users flooded social media with their experiences with the outage. According to some, trying to load Recordings on Sky Q triggered a "Please wait..." message, while others saw "You can't watch TV at the moment due to a connectivity problem," when trying to watch live satellite channels.
Newer Sky Glass and Sky Stream boxes were unaffected by the downtime, since the issue appears to be directly related to the power-saving Standby Mode built into Sky Q.
A Sky spokesperson told GB News: “We’re sorry some customers had trouble accessing Sky Q last night. The issue was quickly resolved, and service has been restored."
Hello Andy, we are aware of some technical issues overnight that led to Sky Q boxes to go into standby mode. Our technical support teams investigated and resolved this. If your sky Q box is still stuck in standby please switch off your Sky Q box at the power socket for 30 seconds…
— Sky Help Team (@SkyHelpTeam) May 16, 2025
Hello David, we are aware of some technical issues overnight that led to Sky Q boxes to go into standby mode. Our technical support teams investigated and resolved this. If your sky Q box is still stuck in standby please switch off your Sky Q box at the power socket for 30…
— Sky Help Team (@SkyHelpTeam) May 16, 2025
Customer service representatives have acknowledged the problem in response to complaints on social media. In one example, a spokesperson for the company said: "We are aware of some technical issues overnight that led to Sky Q boxes to go into standby mode. Our technical support teams investigated and resolved this."
If you're still struggling to watch Sky Q, the customer service team has recommended a simple fix to get everything up-and-running. "If your Sky Q box is still stuck in Standby please switch off your Sky Q box at the power socket for 30 seconds and back on again which will restore service," the team has advised multiple people.
Disgruntled Sky Q viewers complained this technique — known as power-cycling — wasn't working to fix the standby error last night. Since then, the team at Sky TV has either rolled-out a fix for Sky Q or rolled back a software update that caused the problems in the first place. If you tried switching off your Sky Q box last night and didn't see a change, it might be worth attempting it again this morning.
It's almost a cliché at this point — “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”, but it's often more effective than it sounds. Power-cycling — the simple act of turning a device off completely and then back on — works wonders across a wide range of electronics, from routers and laptops to smart TVs and set-top boxes like the Sky Q.
Down Detector tracks issues by monitoring chatter across social media. At the peak, over 33,000 people were complaining about problems with Sky Q boxes switching themselves off due to a glitch with the power-saving Standby mode DOWNDETECTOR But 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.
The bulk of the issues appeared to impact Sky Q last night, with those watching on newer, Wi-Fi-powered boxes like Sky Glass and Sky Stream still able to stream live and on-demand shows
SKY TV PRESS OFFICEHow 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. On X, formerly Twitter, customer service representatives for Sky TV are recommending these steps to anyone who is still struggling to watch television after the major UK outage last night.
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.
