Sky has said it intends to cut 2,000 jobs at its customer service centres and close three sites in the UK, affecting 7% of its total workforce.
The media and telecoms group, which was bought by the US media company Comcast for £30bn in 2018, said the planned closures would help make it “future-ready” as it shifts from dealing with customers over the phone to digital communications.
Sky’s Stockport, Sheffield and Leeds Central contact centres will be closed, reducing the number of its UK sites from 10 to seven. The company’s operations at Dunfermline and Newcastle will also be affected. The proposals are subject to consultation with staff and unions.
At the same time, it is making a multimillion pound investment in its Livingston site to create a “centre of excellence” as it seeks to adapt to an increasingly digital world, amid declining call volumes.
The company, which also owns Sky News, expects its calls to drop from 25m to 17m annually in the next few years.
A spokesperson said: “We’re transforming our business to deliver quicker, simpler and more digital customer service. Our customers increasingly want choice, to speak to us on the phone when they need us most and the ease of managing everyday tasks digitally.
“We’re investing in a new centre of excellence for customer service, alongside cutting-edge digital technology to make our service seamless, reliable and available 24/7.”
The company polled 10,000 customers and said they had asked for greater choice about how and when they connect with Sky, adding that “thousands of expert advisers will continue to provide personalised support on the phone when it matters most”.
Sky cut 1,000 jobs last year, mainly from its workforce that installs equipment in households. It reported in October that annual losses doubled as it spent more on programming and costs relating to its broadband services and hardware such as mobile devices and Sky Glass TVs increased.
