Matthew DeCarlo
Bummer. Get ready for a price hike if you subscribe to Sling TV. Starting today (December 23), signing up for either the Sling Orange or Sling Blue packages will now cost $30 instead of $25, and subscribing to both Orange and Blue will now cost $45 per month instead of $40.
The new pricing is effective immediately for new subscribers, and if you’re already signed up to the service, you should see the higher rates on your bill after January 22. This increase comes at about the same time that other TV streaming services are also raising prices, making it a bit tougher to pick between them if you’re a bargain hunter.
According to the blog post written by Sling TV President Warren Schlichting, it’s not a decision that the company wanted to make, but one that was necessary to offset the higher prices Sling and other streaming services are facing from the networks who own your favorite content.
“Sling doesn’t own the networks you watch—we have to pay programmers for their channels so that we can provide them to you, and the price of programming has been going up,” Schlichting explained. “Unfortunately, we have to share those rising prices with you, so we can continue to provide you with the same great experience you’ve come to expect from Sling.”
Schlichting noted that this is the first price increase on Sling Orange since June 2018, which wasn’t all that long ago frankly. That said, it’s probably worth remembering that Sling has expanded its services since then too, adding four new networks to Sling Orange as well as the ability to record ESPN and Disney content with Sling’s Cloud DVR add-on (an extra $5 per month).
Going forward, Schlichting says you can expect to see more features and channels added. Hopefully, that will take some of the sting out of yet another price increase on yet another cord-cutting service. And if nothing else, it may be worth mentioning that despite the price increase, Sling TV still undercuts the cost of YouTube TV by $5 per month.
