As rival DirecTV Now continues to stagger after abruptly ending steep promotional discounts, Sling TV has announced its own significant price cut.
Dish Network’s virtual MVPD will offer the two iterations of its platform, Sling Orange and Sling Blue, for $15 a month for the first three months, which is a 40% discount. Both packages are available combined for $25 a month, which is $15 better than the regular $40 price.
After shifting around 500,000 customers who were paying as little as $10 a month for DirecTV Now service last year, operator AT&T reported the loss of 267,000 DirecTV Now customers in the fourth quarter.
For its part, Sling TV saw narrowed growth in 2018, down to around 208,000 customers from estimated 2017 additions of more than 2017, the latter according to analysts estimates. The platform grew by only 50,000 customers in the fourth quarter.
Related: Sling TV Adds 50K Subscribers in Q4
A sign-up discount will further erode Dish’s average revenue per customer (ARPU), which is already falling at a rapid pace with low-margin Sling TV customers replacing more profitable linear subscribers in the dwindling Dish customer base.
Pay TV average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped from $86.43 for Dish in 2017 to $85.46 last year. In 2016, the operator’s pay TV ARPU was $88.66.
