Many users found that they were not able to use their Sky Glass television or Sky Stream device after a software update rendered them inoperable. The recovery process requires users to reset their devices, forcing the download of a firmware fix.
Users of Sky Glass televisions or the Sky Stream device that plugs into other televisions, found that they would not turn on. Both products receive automatic software updates, but it appears that the latest one left them unable to start up. Fortunately, there is a way to force them to download a fresh installation of the firmware that runs the devices.
For users of Sky Glass, the recovery process is to switch the television off at the mains power and the press and hold the standby power button on the right-hand side of the screen. Keeping the reset button depressed, users should then turn the power back on at the mains and wait up to 20 seconds until the LED lights start flashing. This will force a new software download, which can take up to 15 minutes. Users will then have to follow the steps on screen to set up their television and sign in to any apps.
For those with a Sky Stream puck, the process is similar, but the standby button is located on the underside of the device.
However, online help forums suggest that some users are still having problems and have been frustrated by the loss of their television service for over a day.
In an online statement, Sky apologised for any inconvenience caused to its subscribers.
Sky Glass and Sky Stream are hardware products that are designed to receive television and video services over the internet. The products are also available in Australia, branded Hubbl, and are due to launch through MultiChoice in South Aftrica. The software that runs them is provided by Sky, which is owned by Comcast. Like many similar products, it includes portions of open source software.
Software releases are usually subject to strict integration testing before they are pushed to devices. This incident demonstrates the danger of getting that wrong, as evidenced by the recent unrelated outages caused by an update to low-level code in Crowdstrike security software on millions of computers running Microsoft Windows.