Dish Network’s virtual MVPD Sling TV is raising the monthly cost of a base package subscription to its live TV streaming service by $5 per month, the company announced Thursday. Sling is also teeing up new channels and features for 2023.
It’s the first price raise in nearly two years and means the monthly price for a base Sling Orange or Sling Blue TV package is now $40 per month. The cost for a combined Sling Orange & Blue package will be $55 per month (also an increase of $5 but giving a $25 discount for those who buy both).
The updated price is effective immediately for new customers and will applied to existing customer bills on or after December 3. Extras, pay-per-view content, rentals and all other purchase options won’t be affected.
In announcing the higher price, Gary Schanman, group president of Sling TV, said it is not a decision the service takes lightly, particularly in the current economic climate, but pointed to the continued rise of programming costs.
“We recognize that historically high inflation is impacting our customers every day and our goal is not to be another burden to your wallet,” stated Schanman, while adding that customers will continue to get top channels such as CNN, ESPN, Fox News, NFL RedZone, TNT and Fox Sports 1, among others.
“However, Sling doesn’t own the networks you watch — we pay programmers for their channels, and the price of programming continues to rise,” Schanman continued. “We’re deeply committed to keeping costs low and continually work with programmers to provide service you can rely on, which is why we haven’t raised prices in nearly two years, maintaining a generous cost advantage compared to our competitors.”
He also pointed to new features coming down the pipe, such as plans to add more than 150 new channels through 2023, new user profiles for households, and auto Binge Watching capabilities.
The price hike comes one day after Dish reported surprisingly strong subscriber gains for Sling TV in Q3, countering the continued trend of pay TV industry declines and cord cutting. In the third quarter Sling TV added around 214,000 net subscribers – a change after three consecutive quarters of subscriber losses. Sling TV’s subscriber base now stands at 2.41 million, though that’s still smaller than the 2.6 million it had in Q3 of 2021.