Sling TV Debuts With Major Cable Channels

by Wayne Friedman , February 9, 2015

After some weeks of pre-launch activity, Sling TV -- Dish Network's over-the-top cloud-based TV service -- has started up officially for U.S. consumers at a basic $20 a month for a handful of channels.

These include ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Adult Swim, AMC, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, ABC Family, CNN, El Rey and Galavision. Consumers also gain access to Sling TV’s video-on-demand library.

Sling TV has announced three add-on packages, each for $5 more a month -- Kids Extra, News & Info Extra, and Sports Extra.

Kids programming includes: Disney Junior, Disney XD, Boomerang, Baby TV, and Duck TV; News & Info Extra has HLN, Cooking Channel, DIY and Bloomberg TV; and Sports Extra includes SEC Network, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Bases Loaded, Univision Deportes, Universal Sports and beIN Sports.

Streaming devices that work with Sling TV include Roku, Android, iOS, Mac and PC, and soon it will support Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.

Dish Network is now second in the market of big players offering OTT cloud-based TV service. CBS All Access started up late last year for $5.99 a month. Time Warner’s HBO and Sony Entertainment are also prepping new services.

Big new providers are targeting those U.S. TV consumers who have been “cord-cutters” of pricey pay TV services or those “cord-shavers” — those who want to trim back on big expensive TV packages. Estimates are that they number around 10 million or so.

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2 comments about "Sling TV Debuts With Major Cable Channels".

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Leonard Zachary from T___n__, February 9, 2015 at 3:37 p.m.
It will be most interesting to see how the age demographics come it. Either way Sling represents a secular element to major TV broadcasters business model.
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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, February 9, 2015 at 4:18 p.m.

I would guess that the most prominent demo in this case will be income, not age------but, we'll see. As for things to watch, I would say the the number of subscribers and their renewal rate are the most interesting indicators. Will millions of households sign up? How many will renew? That's basic Marketing 101stuff.