Local cable television providers have long had a lock on baseball viewers’ attention — but not any longer.

Last week, Sling TV, an Internet-based television provider, announced a new streaming plan that includes content from Fox Networks Group. The offering comes with regional and national Fox sports channels, and means that, for the first time, San Diego Padres fans can watch all baseball games televised by Fox Sports San Diego without a cable subscription.

“With Fox anchoring (the new plan), Sling TV brings a lot of new content to subscribers that otherwise wasn’t available, whether it’s the Yankees in New York or the Padres in San Diego,” said Roger Lynch, Sling TV chief executive.

× Padres now on Sling TV


Sling is a subsidiary of Dish Network, one of the largest pay-TV providers in the nation. But the all-streaming entity, run separately by Lynch, was specifically designed to appeal to cable-haters and cable-nevers, or youngsters who’ve grown up watching “TV” primarily on mobile devices.

Like Sling TV’s other bundle, which debuted 14 months ago (and is still available), the new plan costs $20 a month. The primary distinction between the two packages boils down to Disney versus Fox. Pick the new bundle and you’ll get an assortment of Fox channels, plus FX and National Geographic. But you’ll sacrifice Disney content, which means ESPN, too. Stick with the original package, however, and you’ll get Disney and ESPN, but no Fox Networks brands.

The latest subscription package, which the company is still referring to as experimental or “beta,” also allows customers to simultaneously stream programming on three separate devices (instead of just one). Sling has yet to negotiate multistream rights with Disney, hence the distinct subscriptions, but Lynch believes a deal could be reached at a future date. The company also expects additional programmers to come aboard its three-for-one streaming plan.

Otherwise, both the original and multistream subscriptions come with many of the same networks, including A&E, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, TBS and TNT. As always, live and on-demand content is accessible through the Sling TV app on smartphones and streaming boxes or sticks, including Amazon Fire and Roku devices.


The Sling news represents an interesting shift in content licensing deals for streaming providers, which have typically struggled to acquire the rights to air live sporting events. Broadcast and cable owners, and content owners in general, have seized on sports as the last bastion of appointment TV, said Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer.

But that’s starting to change.

“What people want more than anything is sports,” he said. “I think more and more the industry is coming around to the fact that, one way or another, they have to figure out how to get sports into these live-streaming packages.”

Sling TV’s latest subscription plan, however, complicates a once-straightforward service. Fox regional, national and sports content varies by market, for instance. So San Diegans get the sports channels but not the local Fox broadcast affiliate, though they can stream Fox series on-demand. And now with two competing plans to consider, newcomers may need to mull their options longer before hitting the subscribe button.


“Any time you launch a service and there’s a big gaping hole in terms of content that you’re offering, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage, or putting your customers in a position to make a choice they don’t want to make,” Verna said. “I think the deal tells you that we’re at this point of tension between content owners and consumers, and the Sling TVs of the world.”

Lynch acknowledges the conflict, which he says is a product of complex licensing deals, but feels the $20 price must always come first.

“We would need to raise the price if we dumped Fox into the single-stream subscription,” he said. “And that $20 price point is very important to us.”

The offering arrives alongside a number of developments in the over-the-top arena, all designed to appeal to a growing population of people who are turning to streaming providers for their entertainment needs.


This year, U.S. consumers will spend an average of one hour and eight minutes a day watching digital video, which accounts for 21.6 percent of time spent with video overall, according to new data from eMarketer. While traditional television still captures the bulk of people’s video time, time spent with the old-fashioned medium is dropping on an annual basis among all adult demographics, the firm found.

Even the National Football League is cognizant of the shift, having recently inked a deal with Twitter to stream Thursday night football games, live to digital viewers (for free), through the social network. And Amazon, whose Prime Video product is already a popular option with cord-cutters, is looking to hook even more online viewers. The company is now selling Prime Video subscriptions independent of its Prime two-day shipping program for $8.99 a month, directly challenging Netflix.

The changes are a nod to the maturing streaming market, and with the sports industry seemingly more willing to cement digital deals, online viewers won’t always have to forfeit big games to go cable-less.

“We’re blazing the path, but I imagine that others will follow,” Lynch said.