Fault hits 90,000 Sky+ HD boxes

Up to 90,000 Sky+ HD boxes are to be replaced after a manufacturing fault was identified in a batch of units manufactured by Pace, it has been confirmed.

The problem first came to light on Digital Spy on Wednesday, when some Sky customers reported being called by the pay TV operator and advised of a fault that could impact the long term performance of their Sky+ HD box.

When contacted by Digital Spy for comment, Sky's high definition team posted on the forum: "Pace has told us about a manufacturing fault that can affect around 90,000 of the first boxes supplied by Pace. The fault was resolved in Pace’s subsequent supplies of boxes.

"To be 100% clear, it’s nothing to with a faulty component; the problem relates to the way that some of the boxes were assembled. It doesn’t raise a safety risk or prevent them from being used as normal until we exchange them, but in the longer term it could lead to the failure of the box.

"We’re proud of our Sky+HD product and we’re not happy about customers having boxes that don’t meet our quality standards. So we want to swap all of the boxes in this batch.

"We started calling the affected customers earlier this week to fix an appointment for one of our engineers to come and install a free replacement box. Because of the number of boxes, it will take us about three months to contact everyone, so there is no need to be concerned if we haven’t called you already. The box can continue to be used as normal until we come to replace it.

"To make up for any inconvenience, we will give all affected customers three months’ free subscription to our HD pack (worth £29.25) when we replace their box."

Further details about the precise nature of the fault have not been released.

> Sky customers discuss HD box recall on Digital Spy