Sky plans to ditch up to 500 staff in the Technology Group

Insiders say AI trials involving 'critical network services' underway and some engineering roles being moved to India

Exclusive Sky Group, the Brit-based commercial TV and broadband service slinger owned by Comcast, is chopping up to 600 employees from the Technology, Consumer Group and COO divisions in the UK.

Staff were told about the proposed changes on Monday, according to insiders who contacted The Register. In a message to the team in Britain - seen by us - Aarne Aho, group Chief Technology Officer, said that over the past three years the corporation has ploughed funds into platform, products and used Comcast's global scale to "fundamentally transform our business."

This includes "moving from satellite to IP with our global streaming platform," and in 2025 launching Sky Glass Gen 2 and Sky Glass Air. It also upped broadband capability via the CityFibre relationship and updated the mobile platform and customer management systems.

As these products and services are "used by millions" of Brits and with an eye on the future, Aho said, "we need to shift our focus and investment to building digital-first customers service." He added: "For our products and platforms, that means less focus on creating entirely new platforms and more about enhancing the customer experience of the great products and services we already have.

“As a result, we're proposing some changes to the structure and ways of working which will impact around 900 colleagues, with potentially 600 colleagues leaving Sky if the proposals go ahead. This includes moving more work to our trusted global outsource partners so that we can be more flexible and responsive in how we operate."

Sky operates three "mature" engineering centers in London, Milan, and Chennai in India. In a company-wide email, Aho said the proposals "would potentially see around 500 Sky colleagues exiting Group Technology in total across the UK," indicating that 100 will be shown the door in the consumer and COO areas.

The Networks organization will undergo a balancing exercise across these three centers to "leverage time zones for change activities, and tap into a broader talent pool, and to build a stronger anchor to manage our partners.” In the case of India, Sky is may also be factoring in the lower cost of wages.

In a separate email, staff were told of the intent to consolidate all development of core network management tools into a single team. This is to create a "simplified user experience, helping us maximize efficiency, fully utilize productivity tools from Group Technology, and create a unified channel to benefit from the AI capabilities developed by Rachel Eccleston's team."

Eccleston joined the corporation in April 2021, according to LinkedIn, and is a director that is running AI strategy and transformation across the group.

A source claimed some staff in the Technology Group fear service quality will reduce for subscribers amid suspicions that more people will be hired in India, a location where there has also been AI trials that involved "critical network services."

"Networks are still under a UK hiring freeze for at least two years now and we have been actively prevented from backfilling roles of colleagues who left prior," our source said.

"It is a shame we are not unionized, but many have tolerated below market-rate pay for so long."

As for the DevOps function, Sky is proposing to reposition the Service Desk under a Mobile and Broadband "guild" to "provide end to end continuity from design through test, implementation, monitoring and resolution." And to "streamline service and technology introduction processes using our new delivery framework."

The proposed changes are expected to be implemented by December. "It will be a sad Q4 [for staff in the offices] at Brick Lane, Brentwood, Osterley, Leeds, and beyond," said an insider.

A Sky mouthpiece told The Reg: "Over the past few years, Sky has launched a set of market-leading products including Sky Glass, Sky Stream and our full fibre broadband service.

"These products are now firmly established and used by millions of customers, strengthening Sky's reputation for innovation and great service. As we look ahead, we are shifting our approach to bring customers the next generation of experience by investing in digital-first service, unbeatable content, and even better performance from our products, powered by the best of global innovation." ®