Sling TV Celebrates 2nd Birthday
9 Feb, 2017 By: Erik GruenwedelDish-owned Sling was the first to launch online TV service. DVR functionality coming
Sling TV, Dish Network’s online TV service, Feb. 9 celebrated its second birthday. It's more than just an anniversary, as Sling TV ushered in a new business model targeting a growing number of households eschewing the traditional pay-TV ecosystem.
Notable to the 2015 launch, which offered 20 channels for $20 a month and no service contract, was the availability of ESPN — the first time the premium sports channel was accessible outside the traditional cable bundle.
In a social media presentation on Periscope, CEO Roger Lynch said the service today offers two base services (Sling Orange and Blue), 100 channels, seven extra genre/language packages, three premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, Starz) and more than 30,000 on-demand titles.
“It’s a big day for the team here at Sling TV,” Lynch said, adding that Sling Orange would available for Feb. 11-12 for non-subscribers.
Notably, the executive said Sling would soon be unveiling DVR-functionality on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Android mobile devices.
“After that, we’ll be launching DVR on Apple TV,” Lynch said.
Select subscribers on Roku media players and Roku TVs are currently testing time-shifting content — an issue for Sling TV since inception.