SKY has confirmed that it has canned a popular feature beloved by fans of its Sky Q subscription platform.
A spokesperson told The Sun that Split Screen mode, which let you watch two live sporting events at once, has been put out to pasture.
“The Split Screen feature that ran on Sky Sports Main Event via Sky Q was removed last year,” they said.
“Customers can still see highlights using Sky Sports Recap, and watch another broadcast or highlight shows via Sky Go.”
Fans of the feature first flagged on online forums that it had disappeared as far back as October 2021.
Viewers previously were able to watch two sports broadcasts on the same TV screen by pressing the red button on their Sky Q remote.
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However, forum posters found that the option was no longer appearing when hitting the button.
It came as a surprise, as Sky still has not notified users of the change via email or its website.
“Been using split screen for years and this has only become an issue over the last couple of weeks,” one user wrote last year.
“It hasn’t shown up at all in the last few weeks.”
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Months later, Sky still hadn’t made an official announcement about the changes besides a few Twitter posts from support staff.
Instructions for how to use Split Screen were still available on the broadcaster’s website long after it had been removed.
As recently as July, the feature included on a tips and tricks webpage titled “5 more things you didn’t know about Sky Q”.
Split Screen was a super-useful feature if you’re the sort of person who’s into two different sports that occasionally overlap.
For instance, you might be a Premier League fan who also likes to watch the F1.
This sometimes means you’re forced to watch one or the other as the main Sunday game is often on at the same time as the big race.
Split Screen allowed you to watch both at once by streaming both on the same TV screen at once.
Sky has yet to provide a reason for removing the feature.
It’s possible that it simply wasn’t used by enough people to bother supporting it on Sky’s systems.
For Sky fans who are missing the feature, fear not! There’s a way to watch two streams at once without it.
It’s possible to watch a second broadcast on an iPad or smartphone using the Sky Go app.
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