Sling TV price hike raises streaming service’s cost by $5 a month
TV Blue and Orange will cost $30 apiece, with combined package at $45 a month
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
One of the cheapest live TV streaming services is becoming a bit more expensive this month after Dish announced a price hike coming to itsSling TVservice.
The price hike - which goes into effect Monday, December 23 - will raise the price of the Sling TV Blue and Sling TV Orange basic packages to $30 per month from their previous price of $25 per month. (Sling TV Blue, remember includes Fox, NBC and sports options, while Sling TV Orange includes Disney channels plus ESPN.)
The package that combines both services that was previously available for $40 will now be $45 per month under the new pricing structure, which will start appearing on customers’ bills in January.
To compensate for the increased price, Sling TV says that it will add Fox News and MSNBC as well as HLN from CNN to both packages, plus 10 hours of Cloud DVR Free service that will now be available to every subscriber.
A bad year for live TV streaming
While this is disappointing news for subscribers of Sling TV, it’s pretty much par for the course for live TV streaming services at this point - most other live TV streaming services like Hulu andYouTube TVeither raised prices this year or, in the case ofPlayStation Vue, announced that they’d be closing down for good.
So why is everyone raising prices?
The cost of making deals with multiple stakeholders like Fox/Disney, Viacom and NBCUniversal has gone up most likely up in the past year now that everyone is trying to create services of their own. (Of the three aforementioned major players, Disney just released a streaming service of its own calledDisney Plus, Viacom ownsPluto TVand NBCUniversal will likely launch its cord-cutting service,Peacock, early next year.)
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Hopefully, what we’re seeing right now is the painful growth of live TV services that will come before the next big growth spurt in 2020 - though the exact fate of live TV services right now is anyone’s guess.
ViaVariety
Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar’s sister site, Tom’s Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He’s also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he’s not using if anyone wants it.
4 spy shows on Prime Video with over 80% on Rotten Tomatoes
We just learned more about Max’s password-sharing crackdown – and more price hikes are coming too
Lego will let you build Sir Ernest Shackleton’s iconic lost ship, the Endurance, in its next Icons set
