Sling TV Increases Cheapest Plan to $25/Month, Introduces Limited Free Content and À La Carte Channels

Thursday June 28, 2018 8:34 AM PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Sling TV today announced that it will be increasing the price of its entry-level Sling Orange service by $5 per month, jumping the price up to $25 per month for subscribers. Existing subscribers will not be grandfathered in to their old price, and all Sling Orange customers will see the new monthly $25 price reflected in their bills starting in August.

Sling TV president Warren Schlichting explained in a blog post today that while the company's goal is to keep subscriber prices as low as possible, programming fees and other aspects of the service necessitate the monthly price hike. "Our team works hard to negotiate fair programming deals, with the goal of keeping your price as low as possible," Schlichting said. "Programming fees, however, only go one direction, and that’s up!"


No other aspects of Sling Orange have been changed, so users can still subscribe to the $25 plan and get just over 30 live channels (including ESPN) and DVR features. Comparatively, Sling Orange is still one of the cheapest entries in live TV streaming market, with DirecTV Now starting at $35/month (down to $20/month for AT&T Unlimited plans), and Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV starting at $40/month.

Alongside the price increase, Sling TV revealed a slew of new updates aimed at introducing free content, à la carte channels, movies on-demand, and more without requiring customers to pay for a base subscription (for now only on Roku devices). Part of the announcement is an attempt to get anyone who previously subscribed to Sling TV to return to the service.

When returning customers re-open the Sling TV app, they'll be able to access more than 100 hours of free TV shows and movies without restarting their subscription. These customers will also see ribbons that highlight free shows and films to watch, at launch including "Good Behavior," "Wrecked," "The Detour," and more.

Additionally, anyone can now purchase select channels à la carte without needing to sign up for an entire Sling TV tier. Right now, there are only eight channels available, but with the update if you're interested in only watching one of these channels in the Sling TV app, you can pay individually per month to get the access you want without other channels you might not watch. The company said that more channels will be added in the future, but as of now include:
- Showtime: $10
- CuriosityStream: $6
- Stingray Karaoke: $7
- Dove Channel: $5
- Outside TV Features: $5
- Up Faith & Family: $5
- Pantaya: $6
- NBA League Pass: $28.99
Outside of a Sling TV subscription, customers can now buy pay-per-view events as a one-time purchase in the app as well. There's also the option to buy movies in Sling TV without a monthly subscription, including a catalog of 5,000 popular films.

The company didn't clarify when exactly non-Roku users will see these updates, but confirmed other devices will be supported "in the near future."

Tag: Sling TV
36 comments


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Defthand
14 months ago
It’s increasingly evident that most of these so-called cord cutting options are no different than traditional cable tv. They have no more negotiating power than a cable tv provider.

A la carte program purchasing remains the only bargaining advantage for consumers. Content makers, networks, and streamers can’t force you to pay for the B List content you don’t watch. Let the market decide what the content is worth, not the negotiators.
Rating: 5 Votes
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WarHeadz
14 months ago
DirectvNow is the best value of all the streaming services. Especially if you have AT&T unlimited phone service. I’m paying $20 a month for directvnow with over 65 channels. Actual relevant channels that don’t suck. And I get HBO for free.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Michael Scrip
14 months ago

Maybe our needs are just modest, but I find that Netflix ($11), Hulu w/o commercials ($12) and occasional as-needed HBO Now ($15) or Showtime ($11) subscriptions cover most of what we want to watch. We probably spend an additional $15-20/month on iTunes rentals, and also Amazon Prime video (not counting the price because it seems more of a side benefit of Prime) fills in a few gaps. So that's ~$50/month or so? I think that still comes in well cheaper of traditional cable, so overall I'm fine.


You've got the right idea.

And the best part about what you're doing is that it's all on-demand. You pick what to watch on Netflix/Hulu/iTunes on your schedule.

On the other hand... services like Sling don't offer much different than traditional cable TV. They just send the same pre-scheduled content over the internet instead of to a cable box. You watch what they want you to watch.

Scheduled TV sucks. I wonder how much longer these linear channels divided into 30-minute blocks can continue to exist.
Rating: 2 Votes
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vartanarsen
14 months ago

DirectvNow is the best value of all the streaming services. Especially if you have AT&T unlimited phone service. I’m paying $20 a month for directvnow with over $65 channels. Actual relevant channels that don’t suck. And I get HBO for free.

I'll one up you on an even better plan... the Grandfathered GoBig tier for $35:)
Rating: 2 Votes
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Sciomar
14 months ago

I'll one up you on an even better plan... the Grandfathered GoBig tier for $35:)

So glad I jumped on that deal back then, especially with all the free HBO we got during it's initial blunders. Then came the free cloud DVR for beta testing lol. Being on AT&T unlimited even sweetened the deal with continued free HBO. I keep waiting on them to implement some back door rate hike.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Ciclismo
14 months ago
Quickly becoming a traditional cable TV company...
Rating: 1 Votes
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HobeSoundDarryl
14 months ago

It’s increasingly evident that most of these so-called cord cutting options are no different than traditional cable tv. They have no more negotiating power than a cable tv provider.

A la carte program purchasing remains the only bargaining advantage for consumers. Content makers, networks, and streamers can’t force you to pay for the B List content you don’t watch. Let the market decide what the content is worth, not the negotiators.


If a-la-carte television ever arrives, it will be priced such that whatever number of channels a person actually wants costs about $100/month. There is no getting the 50 cents to a dollar per channel fantasy that so many of us imagine. The goal for all the other links in the chain would be to make MORE money, not less. Else, why take the hit and who (voluntarily) takes the hit?
Rating: 1 Votes
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WarHeadz
14 months ago

You don't get hbo for 'free'. Part of your sub is paying for it, Lol Do you really think that hbo gives it away free.or.that directv is doing community service?

Gee wiz, thanks for enlightening me! I had no idea. :rolleyes:
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
Niclisten
14 months ago

It’s increasingly evident that most of these so-called cord cutting options are no different than traditional cable tv. They have no more negotiating power than a cable tv provider.

A la carte program purchasing remains the only bargaining advantage for consumers. Content makers, networks, and streamers can’t force you to pay for the B List content you don’t watch. Let the market decide what the content is worth, not the negotiators.



Not to mention that the interface and the app itself are just awful. It’s not worth $15 much less 25
Rating: 1 Votes
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28Gauge
14 months ago
I tried Sling for 3 months a little over a year ago. While I liked the price, the almost constant buffering made for a miserable watching experience.
Rating: 1 Votes
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