Sling TV announces à la carte channels, subscription price increase

Sling TV continues to be one of the more unique options for cord-cutters, offering innovative ways to provide customers with streaming content. Today it announced free content without a base subscription and the ability to purchase a number of à la carte channels, but the new features come with a price increase for the orange subscription package of five dollars…and disappointing news for Apple TV users.

Previously available for $20 a month, the Sling Orange package now matches the Blue package at $25 a month for new and current subscribers (existing customers will see the price change on their August bill). Those who subscribe to both the Orange and Blue packages will see their monthly rate remain at $40 per month.

In a letter to customers, Sling TV president Warren Schlichting stated the reason for the price increase is programming fees: “Our team works hard to negotiate fair programming deals, with the goal of keeping your price as low as possible. Programming fees, however, only go one direction, and that’s up!”

Other Sling TV services – such as their 4 Extras Deal and à la carte channel – remain at their current prices.

Speaking of the à la carte channels, Sling is making it easier to purchase select channels to watch through the Sling TV app without first having to set up a base subscription. In other words, no Orange or Blue package will be necessary to subscribe to the channel of your choice. This includes three new à la carte options: Dove Channel, Outside TV Features, and Stingray Karaoke. This brings the full list of available à la carte channels to:

Showtime: $10

CuriosityStream: $6

Stingray Karaoke: $7

Dove Channel: $5

Outside TV Features: $5

Up Faith & Family: $5

Pantaya: $6

NBA League Pass: $28.99

Additional channels will be available in the coming months, the company said.

This is rolling out as part of the new ‘Sling experience’ that includes free on-demand content featuring shows from TBS, HGTV, HISTORY and more.

Upon re-opening the Sling TV app, returning customers can now access more than 100 hours of free TV shows and movies without restarting their subscription. Ribbons within the “My TV” interface dedicated solely to free shows and movies will highlight top content, which at launch will include “Wrecked,” “The Detour,” “Good Behavior,” “Flip or Flop” and more.

Pay-per-view options also get an upgrade:

Starting today, consumers can access … PPV events as a one-time purchase without purchasing a Sling TV base subscription. Fans can choose to use Sling TV solely for their PPV events or combine their PPV purchases with any of Sling TV’s base subscriptions.

In addition to the PPV UFC and boxing matches, customers also have the option to purchase movies within the new experience – again, no Sling TV base subscription required. Consumers will have access to more than 5,000 of today’s most popular movies. Existing customers will still be able to purchase PPV events and movies in addition to their base service subscription.

Unfortunately, this “new experience” is not available to Apple TV users. Sling TV is launching the new interface and content availability today for Roku users only, and will “… expand to additional Sling-supported devices in the near future.”

To learn more about Sling TV and to try the service out for free for seven days, visit sling.com.

The Sling TV app is available for download from the Apple TV App Store. The service has been available on Apple TV since June of 2016.