Sling TV on Thursday announced an increase in the price of its lowest-priced level of streaming TV service. The Sling Orange price will be increased by $5 per month, making the price $25 per month for subscribers.
The increase applies to both new and existing subscribers, and all Sling Orange customers will see the new price reflected on their billing beginning in August.
The announcement came in the form of an open letter from Sling TV president Warren Schlichting, who explained that while the company has worked to keep prices as low as possible, programming fee increases and other expenses necessitated the monthly price increase.
“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!”
Sling Orange will offer the same number of live channels as before (30), and a DVR feature. The plan is still one of the lowest priced in the streaming industry. Comparable plans from competitors start higher, with DirecTV NOW starting at $35 per month and Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV both starting at $40 per month.
Other announcements from Sling on Thursday included news of new free content, à la carte channels, movies on demand, and more for returning customers without the need to pay for a base subscription price. The new features, currently available only on Roku devices, is an enticement to hopefully bring former subscribers back into the Sling fold.
Former subscribers will be able to access over 100 free hours of content without the need to restart their subscription. Customers will see banners that highlight free shows and films to view.
Viewers can now also purchase selected channels à la carte without subscribing to an entire subscription tier. Eight channels are currently available, with more to be added in the future.
Available channels will include:
Viewers will also be able to purchase select pay-per-view events in the app as well. Movies can also be purchased with no need for a Sling TV subscription, from a catalog of over 5,000 popular movies.
The new features are currently “Roku-only,” but are expected to roll out to subscribers with other devices in the near future.