Sling TV Adds 117K Customers in Q3 Amid July Price Hike

vMVPDs
(Image credit: Sling TV)

Updated 11/5/21: This story was updated to include a corrected Sling TV subscriber addition count.

Sling TV added around 117,000 customers in the third quarter, upping the Dish Network-owned virtual pay TV platform's base to 2.56 million users--roughly what it had in a period dating back two years. 

Dish reported 2.69 million Sling TV subscribers in the third quarter of 2019, and 2.46 million in the third quarter of last year. 

The most recent stagnant growth comes as Sling TV upped the price of its two core tiers, "Blue" and "Orange," by $5 to $25 a month in July. But Sling TV also embarked on a major upgrade of its UX, finishing deployment of the updated app across major connected TV platforms including Roku and Amazon Fire TV. 

Overall, Dish reported the loss of 13,000 pay TV subscribers across Dish satellite TV and Sling TV services, with the gains of the latter offsetting the 130,000 lost souls fo the linear-based former.

Dish earned $3.22 billion in pay TV revenue in the third quarter, up just under 1% year over year. The satellite TV company reported a profit of $700,000 in the third quarter on its pay TV operations, down 12 from Q3 2020.

Sling TV, which was the first "vMVPD" to launch back in February 2015, is now the third largest virtual pay TV operator, trailing YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV. 

Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!