Sky has announced that it will charge customers £5 to fast-forward adverts from this month in a major shakeup for TV viewers.
As part of the broadcaster's ad-skipping pack, customers will be charged a monthly fee for the "privilege" to skip advertisements.
Sky Go and Sky Stream viewers will be part of the scheme unless they specifically opt out.
Those not using the scheme will be unable to skip ad breaks on live channels and will be forced to watch all sponsored videos when using on-demand platforms like ITVX, STV, and All4.
In a statement, the company said: "With the Ad Skipping Add On, you’ll be able to fast forward through adverts when using Live Pause, Restart, Playlist or Sky On Demand.
“The Ad Skipping pack doesn’t mean that you won’t see any adverts.
“It just lets you fast forward through the ads using the relevant remote control buttons and on-screen menu for what you’re watching. It doesn’t fast forward ads in Live TV or other TV apps, like YouTube or Spotify.”
However, Sky confirmed that those who own Sky Glass TVs would be exempt from paying the advert skipping fee for at least another 18 months.
Sky Q boxes do not seem to be affected as the update is still yet to be rolled out.
This comes after an announcement last year informing customers that such charges would be brought in to clamp down on advert skipping by viewers.
This follows other platforms in introducing fees for ad skipping such as ITVX and All4 which charge £5.99 and £3.99 respectively.
