In an SEC filing, DISH Network reported that Sling TV lost 77,000 subscribers in Q4 of 2022 to finish the year with 2.334 million. While it’s normal for live TV subscriptions to fluctuate throughout the year, this number is lower than the year-end Sling TV tally in 2021 (2.486M) or 2020 (2.474M).
The news isn’t terribly surprising, considering that Sling TV raised its prices in November.
With the price hike, Sling Orange and Sling Blue now each cost $40 a month (the previous price was $35), and if you subscribe to both packages, the bundled price is now $55 vs. the previous $50. This was the first price increase for Sling TV since January 2021.
New Sling Pricing:
- Sling Orange: $40 (was $35)
- Sling Blue: $40 (was $35)
- Sling Orange + Blue: $55 (was $50)
While that higher pricing hit new subscribers in November, existing subscribers saw the price increase on their first bill after Dec. 3, 2022.
We should expect the Q1 subscriber numbers to be even worse, since the service traditionally loses viewers after the football season. In Q1 of 2021, Sling TV lost 100,000 subscribers. In Q1 of 2022, it lost 234,000. Now with a higher price point, the drop could be more severe.
When it comes to live TV, football is the 800-pound gorilla. Of the 100 most-watched broadcasts in 2022, 82 of them were NFL games. And these days, it’s easier than ever to watch football without a multi-channel live TV provider. Peacock, ESPN+, and Paramount+ offer the games. FOX is the only holdout without a standalone streaming option. This year, Prime Video was the only way to watch Thursday games. NFL+ also offered fans a way to watch their games without a live TV streamer. As these options continue to grow, the live TV bundle faces an existential crisis.
Another hiccup in the fourth quarter: 17 Disney-owned channels were dropped from Sling TV, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ACC Network, and SEC Network over a carriage dispute in early October. After a two-day disappearance, the channels returned to the service. But carriage disputes like this often prompt subscribers to try another service during the outage, and some never return.
Historically, Sling TV management has been hyper-aware of retransmission fees, and they’ve been willing to go to war with providers who want to charge too much. Part of Sling’s value is the ability to customize the channel bundle to keep prices low. With multi-channel packages, every subscriber has to subsidize the cost of expensive sports channels. Sling TV sidesteps this by allowing users to choose a less expensive tier with ESPN or FOX, but not necessarily both. A true budget streamer like Philo abandons sports channels entirely to keep costs low.
It seems audiences are staring down an ever-increasing cost if they want to watch live TV. Every sports renewal costs significantly more than the last one, and with live sports being the only thing drawing audiences on a regular basis, services that lose those channels could be making a catastrophic choice. Surely, there will be a breaking point between what the viewer will be willing to pay. In the case of Sling TV’s last quarter, that $5/month increase may have turned some people away from live TV forever.
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.