Sling TV Adds 117,000 Subscribers in Q3 2023 as DISH Satellite Subscribers Continue to Decline
DISH now has around 6.72 million satellite customers, and the number continues to fall.
DISH finds itself in an increasingly precarious spot. The satellite TV provider is facing the same challenges every other pay-TV company is seeing nowadays; namely, declining subscribers on its linear offerings, but only middling gains from their live TV streaming services to help pick up the slack.
- DISH reports losing around 180,000 satellite TV subscribers during the third quarter of 2023.
- Its live TV streaming service Sling TV added 120,000 net customers.
- The return of college and pro sports during the quarter likely aided Sling TV’s rise.
How Many Subscribers Did Sling Add in Q3?
DISH’s trend of diverging subscriber trajectories continued during the third quarter of 2023. Its live TV streaming platform Sling TV gained 117,000 subscribers during the quarter, raising its total to 2.12M users. In Q2, the streamer finished with around 2M customers.
On the other hand, DISH satellite customers dropped from 6.9M to 6.72M, a decline of around 180,000 from the second quarter. DISH has lost satellite subscribers for each of the past eight quarters, shedding around 1.5M users total in that time.
The onset of the NFL and college football seasons likely aided Sling TV’s subscriber bump. The service offers ESPN, NFL Network and college sports channels like SEC Network in its base plans and add-on packs, and this year the streamer offered a special Season Pass featuring Sling’s Orange and Blue plans, plus the Sports Extra add-on for a fixed, discounted price for football season.
What Were Sling’s Biggest Stories of the Quarter?
Sling had a fairly quiet third quarter in terms of channel additions or user updates. The streamer did recently unveil a series of updates to its user interface, however, with a new live sports hub on the home screen, in-app purchase capability and much more.
Sling users who subscribe to NBA League Pass through the service got a nice surprise in recent weeks, as well. At the end of October, Sling TV confirmed to The Streamable that its League Pass customers would be able to watch out-of-market NBA games using their subscription on Peloton devices this season. Peloton announced a deal to add NBA League Pass support to compatible devices in mid-October.
The streamer is continuing to offer new subscribers 50% off their first month of service, dropping the price of a Sling Orange or Blue subscription to just $20 for the first 30 days. Now that the NBA and NHL seasons have started up again, Sling is a great way to watch live sports for a price even the most cost-conscious customers will have a hard time arguing with.
Sling TV
Sling TV is a live TV streaming service that helps users save money with the option of two distinct plans. The $40/month “Sling Orange” plan offers about 30 channels, including Disney Channel and ESPN. The $40/month “Sling Blue” plan offers about 40 channels, including Fox and NBC local channels.