LAS VEGAS — If you’re tired of paying outrageous and ever-growing bills for television service to get access to a bunch of channels you never watch, you soon will have another choice — one that could turn the entire industry on its head.

At a media event here Monday, Dish announced Sling TV, a pay-TV service delivered over the Internet, instead of through its traditional satellite dishes. The company will charge just $20 a month for the service — although for far fewer channels than viewers would typically get from Comcast or DirecTV — and won’t require users to sign a long-term contract. It will, however, offer some big lures such as ESPN, TNT, CNN and the Food Network.

The service, to be launched early this year, can be used via a Web browser on computers or through apps on smartphones, tablets and streaming video devices like Roku’s digital players.

If it’s successful — and that’s a big if — it could lead to similar offers from other companies, allowing consumers to cut their pay TV bills and get access to a collection of channels tailored to their personal preferences.

“It’s definitely exciting news,” said Chris Young, an analyst at SNL Kagan, a research firm that covers the pay-television industry. “It gives consumers more options and makes them feel they are getting the best value.”

That’s about the opposite of how many consumers feel today about their pay-TV service.

Cable companies including Comcast and Time Warner Cable are among the lowest-rated companies in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. And the number of pay-TV subscribers fell in 2013 for the first time ever. Some 25 million U.S. households — about one-fifth of the total number — don’t subscribe to pay TV. And that number is growing.

Meanwhile, more consumers are cobbling together their own bundles, with services from online providers such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.

It’s not hard to see why consumers are dissatisfied. They’re having to pay more each year for a growing number of channels they don’t watch.

Pay-TV rates have risen more than twice as fast as inflation for nearly 20 years, thanks in large part to rising programming costs. The average pay-TV customer is now forking over more than $64 a month. While the number of channels available has also risen markedly over the years, that appears to hold little value to many consumers; according to Nielsen, the average consumer watches only 17 channels regardless of how many are available.

Instead of offering new choices, the industry has stuck by its old playbook — more channels but higher prices.

That’s what makes Sling TV so intriguing. Subscribers will get access to only a handful of channels — about 12 cable stations at launch — but those include some of the most popular networks on cable TV, including the ESPN sports network. And consumers who want additional channels will be able to customize their service with targeted add-on packages. Among the initial bundles, which Sling TV will offer for $5 each, will be collections of sports and kids’ channels.

“I call it the Ikea theory,” said Joel Espelien, a senior analyst at The Diffusion Group. “You pick a price and see what kind of value you can jam in.”

Compared with traditional pay-TV offerings, Sling TV has some serious shortcomings. Not only does it offer relatively few channels, it doesn’t include local stations and isn’t compatible with DVRs — but it will offer on-demand programs. And consumers will be able to watch only one video stream at a time, meaning you couldn’t be watching TNT in your bedroom on Sling TV while your kids watch cartoons in the living room.

Those shortcomings could severely limit Sling TV’s appeal. But it’s important to remember that this is an initial offering. Dish is already promising to add more channels in the near future. It could potentially offer local channels as an add-on pack.

“It’s early days,” said Greg Ireland, an analyst who covers the multi-screen video market for tech research firm IDC. But he added, “I think the basic idea is dead-on.”

Dish is pitching Sling TV to folks who have already cut the cord and younger consumers who have never signed up for pay-TV service at all, figuring that it can lure those customers with a cut-rate plan. But by offering a lower-cost, more personalized selection of channels, the service could prove attractive to many other consumers, too.

And it could inspire other companies to compete. Apple has reportedly been working on its own Internet-delivered pay-TV service. Likewise, Verizon last year bought the assets of OnCue, an Internet TV service that Intel was developing. If Sling TV’s successful, it could inspire them to go forward with those plans.

That would be welcome news. With two major mergers in the works — Comcast and Time Warner Cable on the one hand and AT&T and DirecTV on the other — consumers have faced the prospect of fewer choices and more entrenched pay-TV providers. Sling TV, especially if it’s followed by more such services to come, could reintroduce some needed competition.

Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or twolverton@mercurynews.com. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv.