What Will DIRECTV Do With Sling TV if it Merges with DISH?

Two of the biggest pay-TV distributors in the United States could be about to become one. Momentum is building toward a merger of DIRECTV and DISH, a move that would create a satellite company larger than any other pay-TV distributor in the country, with nearly 20 million customers. Reports indicate that DIRECTV would take control of the combined company if the merger goes through, but that raises the question of what the new live TV streaming service might look like if DIRECTV STREAM is merged with the slightly skinnier streaming bundle of DISH’s Sling TV.

What Could DIRECTV Do With Sling?

It’s important to note that if DIRECTV and DISH do merge, it will be some time before DIRECTV does anything at all with Sling. The merger will take quite some time to complete; Paramount’s combination with Skydance Media isn’t expected to be finished until at least May 2025, and a DIRECTV/DISH merger will likely draw more scrutiny from government regulators, lengthening the process.

In a future where DIRECTV and DISH do merge successfully, however, DIRECTV will have several options with Sling TV. It already operates two live TV streamers of its own in DIRECTV STREAM and DIRECTV Via Internet, but the three products are vastly different as they stand today. DIRECTV Via Internet is essentially just a streaming version of the company’s satellite product, complete with a required two-year commitment, while DIRECTV STREAM is very similar, with a few streaming-specific differences across the channel lineups and the fact that commitments are month-to-month. All of DIRECTV STREAM’s plans are packed with at least 90 channels and priced at $80 per month or more.

Sling TV, on the other hand, sells much smaller channel packages of around 40 channels apiece. It charges just $40 per month for these offerings, and still manages to distribute top cable channels like CNN, ESPN, FS1, MSNBC, TNT, and more for that price.

Don’t Mess with Success, or Rebuild from the Ground Up?

DIRECTV could drastically change Sling TV if it so chooses. It may decide to simply discard Sling, but given the popularity of the Sling brand and its customer base of over 2 million subscribers, I find that outcome pretty unlikely.

Local Channels for Everyone?

One thing that DIRECTV could do to change Sling is to include local channels for customers in more markets. Sling TV carries ABC, Fox, and NBC in the biggest media markets in the country, but outside of areas like Boston, Los Angeles, and New York most customers can’t get them; CBS and other Paramount-owned channels are not available on Sling.

DIRECTV, on the other hand, can provide local broadcast networks including CBS to a much larger audience with its current licensing agreements. Would DIRECTV launch a new Sling package with local channels included at a higher price?

Skinnier Bundles on Sling?

Perhaps DIRECTV would leverage the Sling brand to sell new, smaller channel packages of its own? DIRECTV’s recently-concluded carriage fight with Disney saw the House of Mouse grant the satellite company permission to create smaller, genre-specific channel packages based around themes like sports, entertainment, and kids programming. These plans could be sold under the Sling TV name if the two companies merge since customers are already used to associating it with a smaller channel bundle that serves a specific audience.

Earlier this month, I speculated what DIRECTV could do with this new skinny-bundle ability, but if the company comes into control of Sling, that opens up its opportunities to offer more and more options without muddying the waters too much. DIRECTV STREAM could be the company’s streaming umbrella — and home of the full cable-like package — but it could then offer sports-focused, news-focused, entertainment-focused, or kids-focused packages along with its current options.

New Bundling Opportunities

There will also be opportunities to package Sling with on-demand streaming services from Disney, which is another outcome of the new carriage deal between Disney and DIRECTV. Having been granted permission to distribute Disney streaming services at a wholesale rate, DIRECTV may decide to bundle Hulu with Sling’s Blue plan and Disney+ with Sling Orange going forward. This would create significant synergy, especially on the Sling Orange side; that plan includes ESPN networks and the Disney Channel, but fewer entertainment options overall. Disney+ would supplement those entertainment choices, and including it free with Sling Orange would prevent customers from having to pay twice for the same content they find on Disney Channel.

Conversely, Sling Blue doesn’t have nearly the sports offerings of the Orange plan and doesn’t include the ESPN suite of channels. So, either including ESPN+ for free, or offering it as a discounted add-on could be attractive to customers. Then, when ESPN Flagship (or whatever name they eventually land on) launches in fall 2025, it would eliminate the need to have a plan with ESPN channels, because it will house everything across all ESPN outlets.

Beyond pairing live TV service with subscription streamers, there will be other bundling opportunities for DIRECTV as well. The company could sell both DIRECTV STREAM and Sling TV with DISH broadband packages, assuming the company gets its internet business off the ground. DISH has been trying to build a broadband distribution arm for years, and once it becomes an internet service provider there will be excellent opportunities to package pay-TV plans with broadband offerings.

Could Sling Be Shut Down?

DIRECTV could also go in the complete opposite direction, pairing back Sling TV’s operations and essentially turning it into another DIRECTV STREAM plan. This may be a step back in terms of the power of Sling’s brand, but it could save the combined company quite a bit of money if it decides it can’t justify keeping two full-fledged live TV streaming operations going at once.

While it is unlikely that DIRECTV will completely shelve Sling, it is likely that there will be considerable redundancies created by the merger, meaning that the newly formed company will look for ways to minimize expenses while expanding offerings. So, it would make sense — if for branding purposes alone — to keep the Sling name and current packages available, but to bring them into the larger DIRECTV STREAM ecosystem.

There is a wide range of options available to DIRECTV if it eventually takes control of Sling, but there are several steps to come before that can happen. A merger deal between the two sides is still not yet agreed to, and even if it is the deal will have to pass regulatory scrutiny before any changes to Sling TV can be made. Still, the possibilities for the streamer are tantalizing in a future where DIRECTV and DISH are one company.