Sling TV growth slows dramatically amid HBO standoff and greater competition
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/8/18076742/sling-tv-growth-slow-hbo-standoff-competition-dish-youtube-tv-hulu
The cheapest of the major internet TV streaming services, Sling TV isn’t drawing new subscribers quite like it used to. Yesterday, parent company Dish said Sling TV picked up only 26,000 new subscribers in the third quarter of 2018 and acknowledged that the service had drawn “fewer” customers compared to its performance over the few quarters prior. (Sling TV reported 41,000 new subscribers in Q2 and 91,000 in Q1.) In the year-ago quarter, subscriber gains were 240,000.
One possible reason for the sluggish growth is pretty simple: price. Back in June, Sling TV raised the price of its base Orange subscription from $19.99 to $25. Five bucks might not seem like much, but it matters to customers who have taken to these streaming TV services in an effort to save as much as possible versus traditional cable.