For the second straight quarter, skinny-bundle live TV streaming service Sling TV reported a subscriber loss when its parent company EchoStar made its first-quarter 2024 earnings public on Friday following market close. The streamer shed 135,000 customers during the first three months of the new year, following a loss of 60,000 in the final frame of 2023. In total, the streamer fell to 1.92 million subscribers, down from the 2.06M at the end of last year.
Despite the decline, the subscriber loss isn’t particularly surprising. The first quarter of every year inevitably brings customer attrition as the college football and NFL seasons conclude. So, Sling’s seasonal slide was to be expected. It is still disappointing as its satellite corporate sibling DISH TV also saw a loss of 213,000 customers and now sits at 6.26 million subscribers. The alarming rate at which traditional pay TV is falling has not yet translated to exponential growth for live TV streamers. While YouTube TV reportedly hit 8 million customers earlier this year, its competitors are still trying to establish and sustain a foothold in the industry.
While the losses for Echostar are less than ideal, the total decline of a total of 348,000 subscribers is better than the corresponding quarter last year when Sling and DISH lost a total of 552,000 combined customers. combining the satellite and live TV streaming services, Echostar now has 8.178 million paid customers. The company did not report how many active users its free streaming service Sling Freestream.
“The decrease in net Sling TV subscriber losses was primarily related to lower Sling TV subscriber disconnects in 2024 due to our emphasis on acquiring higher quality subscribers, partially offset by lower Sling TV subscriber activations,” Echostar said in its quarterly report press release. “We continue to experience increased competition, including competition from other subscription video-on-demand and live-linear OTT service providers, many of which are providers of our content and offer football and other seasonal sports programming direct to subscribers on an a la carte basis.”
One thing that is not especially encouraging for Sling is an increasingly crowded landscape. The streamer’s Orange plan is designed to appeal to sports fans, and with the addition of the Sports Extra add-on, consumers are able to stream a vast majority of nationally televised sporting events. However, as Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery prepare to launch a streaming service that unites their collective sports rights, Sling’s parent company is taking a stand.
Last week, DISH Network joined with Fubo, DIRECTV, and five other signatories to send a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to hold hearings on the competitive disadvantage that will be created if a single platform is able to host roughly 80% of all major, nationally available sports broadcasts.
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.