Sling TV has upped the price of its two base tiers, Orange and Blue, by $5 a month to $35 for new customers.
The price of add-on packages is going up, too—the Sports Extra bundle has spiked a dollar a month to $11.
Existing customers will not experience a price increase until July 2021, thanks to the no-price-increase-for-one-year decree made by Dish Network-owned Sling TV last summer.
As all virtual pay TV services do when they inevitably up their prices, Sling TV blamed the bump on fast-growing program licensing costs.
"Unfortunately, we are forced to raise prices because the television networks keep charging us more, but we fight hard to get the best deal for our customers,” said Michael Schwimmer, group president of Sling TV, in a statement. “The proof of our commitment is apparent, as Sling TV is still the best deal in the market, keeping our prices much lower than cable and other live streaming services.”
Sling TV is notably bereft of access to CBS and ABC local stations, and it has been aggressive in pushing its users to get their locals from over-the-air sources.
At $35 a month, the service is still cheaper than Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV, the two virtual MVPDs that have surpassed the seminal Sling TV service in users.
At last count, the end of the third quarter, Sling TV had just under 2.5 million subscribers, having added 203,000 users in Q3.
The service did beef up its DVR offering—it now gives new users 50 hours of HD recording vs. only 10 previously. The $5-a-month DVR add-on, meanwhile, now delivers 200 hours of recording vs. 50.
