Re: "available on two platforms"
I agree that programming schedules are old school. I record everything and never watch live precisely so that I can zip past the adverts. But it turns out that most people still like the communal 'camp fire' experience of knowing that other people are watching the same thing at the same time, enhanced perhaps by tweeting their experiences as they watch.
[It] won't stop Sky milking its subscribers for all they're worth.
I'm not sure you're grasping the difference between 'available on the Sky platform' and 'A channel that is owned by Sky'. The vast majority of channels available through the Sky platform are not owned by them. Discovery carries adverts because Discovery Communications Plc wants it to. History carries adverts because AETN want it to.
At its heart all Sky is is an EPG. I think I read once that they designed the original upload equipment but basically anyone who can bounce a TV channel off a satellite can pay to be listed on Sky's EPG. Aside from feeding them your programme metadata the rest of the transmission chain need have nothing to do with Sky. Channel operators pay Sky for a spot on their EPG and (I think) the rights to use their encryption system if they want it. Sky offers them a discount on their fee based on how much value it perceives they add to the platform.
There would have to be a radical departure in Sky's business model (and that of the channels themselves) to remove adverts. It would shake the broadcasting industry to its foundations. You're talking about removing their primary source of income and in this case making them dependent on an unconnected company for their survival.
And that's before you start asking how much adverts are worth to broadcasters and how much subscriptions would have to rise to cover the costs. Understand - I'm not saying that Netflix et al aren't the way to go - they may well be. All I'm trying to do is explain why 'having a go at Sky' is inappropriate in this case. It's mostly out of their control - something I dare say this new box of theirs is trying to address.