The great satellite switcharoo - what TV viewers need to know

The Optus D2 satellite, one of the key satellites serving up satellite TV services to New Zealand, is coming to the end of its life and Optus is planning to decommission it by May 2025. Launched in 2007, Optus D2 (located at 160 degrees east) has been a work horse in the Optus fleet for more than 16 years.

It is now carrying seriously dated technology and is running out of the fuel used to keep it in geostationary orbit and perfectly aligned to connect to hundreds of thousands of satellite dishes pointed skywards on building roofs.

There’s a lot riding on getting the migration done correctly. Sky TV reported recently that it had 479,000 Sky Box customers receiving Sky’s channels via satellite. Freeview’s satellite service is also delivered via the Optus D2 satellite, so its services will also be affected. It’s hard to know exactly how many Freeview satellite users are out there, but it could be as many as 50,000-100,000.

Satellites don’t last forever and Sky TV has handled satellite migrations successfully before. In theory, as long as the satellite operator positions a replacement satellite in the exact position as the previous one, all of the satellite dishes pointing at it should pick up the TV signals being broadcast across the South Pacific. Some rescanning of channels on the set-top box may be required to reprogramme the channels.

But there’s a complication with the Optus D2 decommissioning.

Optus had intended to replace the satellite with the Optus 11, a new, state-of-the-art satellite that was scheduled to be launched this year. However, manufacturing delays mean Optus 11 now won’t be ready for launch before 2027, and possibly later.

It means that Optus has to find a replacement satellite to handle the services provided by Optus D2 and, a couple of years later, transition to the Optus 11 satellite that will supply services for the following decade.

Sky TV says that Optus has offered it two “satellite path options” to ensure services continue as normal. A backup option involves a slightly different satellite position - 156 degrees east. This will involve shifting one of its other four existing satellites into place. It’s a delicate dance in space that has inherent technology and logistical risk associated with it. Then there’s the possible requirement for on-the-ground technology updates to satellite set-top boxes.

Many Sky TV satellite customers have already been contacted by Sky about undertaking testing to prepare for the switchover. For the newer white Sky Box or black Sky Box that are internet-enabled, Sky is testing in the small hours of the morning to determine whether the box and satellite dish will connect to the new satellite.