Even with upcoming price increase, Sling TV is still a great streaming value
Even with upcoming price increase, Sling TV is still a great streaming value
The history of other recent live TV streaming price hikes shows Sling is still one of the best bangs for your streaming buck.
There are only a few days left to get a Sling TV subscription for $40 per month. On Friday, Dec. 20, the streamer will increase its subscription rate by $6 per month. Both its Orange and Blue packages will be affected by the increase, but even with the higher monthly price, a very recent history of other live TV streaming price hikes shows that Sling TV is still one of the best values available in the industry.
Key Details:
- Sling TV is the only live TV service carrying channels like ESPN and TNT for less than $50 per month.
- The streamer doesn’t have a free trial, but frequently gives new customers half off their first month of service.
- DIRECTV STREAM, Hulu + Live TV, Philo, and YouTube TV have all raised prices at some point in 2024.
Sling TV will still offer the same basic channel packages once the price increases, with channels like ESPN, Fox News, FX, MSNBC, TNT, and USA Network among many others available depending on which you choose. It’s the only service out there offering mainstream cable sports, news, and entertainment networks all in one package for less than $50 per month.
Unlike some other live TV streaming services, Sling does not offer a free trial to new users. But the service does frequently provide a first-month discount of 50% off its base channel packages for one full month of use, and if that deal returns when the price goes up on Friday, new viewers will be able to watch one month of Sling for less than $25 when they sign up.
Comparing Sling to other live TV services on the market demonstrates its value all the more. Nearly all other such streamers have raised prices in the last year. The Streamable’s StreamFlation predicted as much in September, believing that essentially every service would boost their prices in late 2024 or early 2025.
Fubo kicked things off in January by raising prices on all plans by $5 per month. Philo continued the trend in May, announcing that it was increasing from $25 to $28 per month. Disney kept the party going in October, raising the cost of all its streaming services, including its live TV streamer Hulu + Live TV, which now runs $83 per month.
DIRECTV STREAM also altered its subscription price in October, and just last week YouTube TV announced that it was raising its monthly rate to $83 per month. That means that all of the six biggest live TV services have increased their rates in 2024 at some point.
Sling TV must now be added to that list as well, but it’s still a good value compared to the other services on the list. Viewers can still switch between the Orange and Blue channel packages for free, and a long list of add-on packs lets viewers better control their subscription and pay only for channels they really want to watch. It even has a rewards program that gives subscribers the chance to win cash prizes just for watching their subscription every day. A price increase may detract from its value just a bit, but when comparing Sling TV to other live TV services on the market, it’s still the best bargain among them all.
Sling TV
Sling TV is The Streamable’s choice for cord cutters on a budget. Sling is a live TV streaming service with multiple channel packages. The $45.99/month Sling Orange plan offers about 30 channels, including Disney Channel and ESPN. The $45.99/month Sling Blue plan offers about 40 channels, including ABC, Fox, and NBC in major markets.
You can combine Orange+Blue for a total of $60.99 / month. Sling also offers many channel add-on packages starting at $6/month.