• by Alex Weprin , December 7, 2017

Dish Networks' Sling TV platform is adding standalone niche, premium video services to its lineup. 

The first standalone offerings will be CuriosityStream, an over-the-top streaming video service targeting viewers of documentary nature, science and space programming; UP Faith & Family, which features religious and family programming; and Pantaya, a Spanish-language movies service.

The services will be available as a $6 per month premium add-on for Pantaya and CuriosityStream and $5 for UP, with subscribers gaining on-demand access to each service's full library of programs.

CuriosityStream was created by John Hendricks, who also founded Discovery Channel in 1985.  UP is a spinoff service of the cable channel of the same name, while Pantaya is owned by entertainment giant Lionsgate.

While CuriosityStream, Pantaya and UP are available as standalone services, the companies have also been trying to make headway as a part of larger OTT bundles. 

So far, the biggest players in the “skinny” OTT bundle space are Sling TV, which currently has more than two million subscribers, according to ComScore, and DirecTV Now, which parent company AT&T said this week now has more than one million subscribers.

Clint Stinchcomb, chief distribution officer of  CuriosityStream, told Digital News Daily that Sling’s scale in the OTT space and as a content distributor made for a natural fit.

“We are in the business of making it really easy for fans to find CuriosityStream and seamless for them to subscribe. Sling TV checks all of these boxes,” Stinchcomb said.