One feature Sling needs: Passes for Sling Blue
One feature Sling needs: Passes for Sling Blue
Sling TV’s Passes are a huge win for customer choice, but they’re currently only available with half the streamer’s channels.
Sling TV has been an innovator in the marketplace since its inception, offering smaller-sized channel packages for a price less than $40 at a time when the biggest cable plans would run in excess of $120 per month. The price may have risen somewhat for Sling TV over the years, but its monthly package still runs an incredibly modest $46 per month.
In its latest innovation, Sling launched a new way to access the programming in its Orange channel plan: Passes that allow customers to sign up for one day, three days, or a full week at a time, with no auto-renewal once the allotted period has ended.
Passes are a revolutionary product; each of them costs $15 or less, and they allow viewers to access sporting events on ESPN essentially on an a la carte basis for the first time. It’s not just ESPN — all the content in the Sling Orange plan, including channels like CNN, Disney Channel, Food Network, History, TNT, and TBS, is available as well. But Sling has another base channel package called the Blue plan, and it offers channels that can’t be watched with Sling Orange.
Unfortunately, at the moment, Sling TV does not offer Passes with its Blue programming. This is likely because of distribution agreements the streamer has with programmers that license their channels to be included in Sling Blue; the package contains local broadcast channels ABC, Fox, and NBC in some markets, and also offers Bravo, Fox News, FS1, MS NOW, NFL Network, and more.
Sling wasn’t afraid to upset programmers when it launched Passes, however. The streamer is facing lawsuits from Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery over the creation of the product, saying they violate existing programming agreements. Perhaps the agreements that Sling has with programmers who participate in Sling Blue are more explicit about the length of time subscriptions must be offered for, but Sling and its parent company DISH have never been scared to upset the apple cart a bit.
Having Passes available with Sling Blue programming would allow viewers to stream live sports on FS1, election coverage on Fox News, or MS NOW on appropriate nights, or other major events without having to commit to a full month of service. It would continue the trend of innovative, customer-friendly products emanating from Sling TV, and it’s a goal the streamer may be working toward even now.
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.