Sky+ (pronounced Sky Plus) is a discontinued personal video recorder (PVR) and subscription service from the satellite television provider Sky in the UK and Ireland. Launched in September 2001, it allows customers to record, pause and instantly rewind live TV. The system performs these functions using an internal hard drive inside the Sky+ set top box, an upgrade over the standard Digibox. On 25 August 2001, the Sky+ demonstration was added to the Sky Guide demonstration, and was shown on Sky Welcome (Channel 998), which lasted for 15 minutes. A demo of the Sky+ box was shown on the Sky Customer Channel (Channel 999). Originally a Sky+ subscription cost £10 per month - this fee was discontinued for subscribers from 1 July 2007. By July 2002 the service attracted 25,000 subscribers, and by 30 September 2009, there were 5.9 million customers with Sky+. Sky+ was also released in Italy, Germany and Austria. During its lifetime its chief competitors in the UK market were Freeview+, Freesat+, BT Vision, and Virgin Media's V+ and TiVo. In the Republic of Ireland, Sky+ competed with Virgin Media Horizon TV and Saorview. In October 2016, Sky stopped selling the Sky+ subscription service, replacing it with Sky Q, although users of Sky+ can continue using their legacy box. Technical information Combined digital satellite receiver/decoder and personal video recorder (PVR). Twin digital satellite tuners – for connection to identical independent feeds from Astra 28.2°E. Allows simultaneous recording/viewing or recording of 2 channels at once. The set-top box middleware is provided by OpenTV, but the EPG and all the software extensions that manage the PVR functions are produced by NDS under the name of XTV PVR. Sky+ has its own electronic programme guide made by Sky. From here, users can see what programmes are on in the next seven days. The current EPG software version (as of July 2010) is Sky+ 5.08.6. Versions There have been various versions of Sky+: Sky+ 40 GB (discontinued) – First version of Sky+, which costed £300. An average of twenty hours recording time. The first generation of boxes (referred to as a PVR1s within Sky) were manufactured exclusively by Pace for the UK and Ireland market. The second generation of 40 GB boxes (referred to as PVR2s), were manufactured by both Amstrad and Pace. Sky+ 80 GB (discontinued) – Now officially and colloquially referred to as Sky+, this third generation of box