Add Warner Bros. Discovery to the list of companies suing Sling over its short-term, low-cost plans.
WBD, which like Disney filed its lawsuit under seal in New York, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that DISH-owned Sling’s short-term offering “violates the terms of our agreement.” But WBD struck a softer tone than Disney, saying in the same statement that it ‘values’ its partnership with DISH and is hopeful that the case is resolved “amicably.”
It should be noted that WBD has far less invested in live sports streaming than Disney, with the company set to spinoff its linear sports offerings into a new company separate from its HBO Max streaming service next year.
Sling debuted short-term, low-cost plans last month that offer access to its “Sling Orange” subscription for as little as $5 for a single day. Other plans include $10 for a weekend and $15 for a full week. A full week plan purchased last Tuesday provided access to the final rounds of U.S. Open tennis, all of ESPN’s Saturday college football games, “Monday Night Football” and even NFL RedZone, which was available as part of a free preview.
While the plans do not cover Sling Blue — which includes the NBCUniversal and Fox networks — there is no cheaper way to access the linear ESPN and WBD networks. The new ESPN Unlimited direct-to-subscriber service costs $30/mo, and it costs a minimum of $17/mo to access TNT Sports through HBO Max.
It should be noted that those direct-to-subscriber plans are cheaper than the monthly price of Sling Orange, which has risen to $45/mo. In addition, the new bundle of ESPN Unlimited and Fox One is cheaper ($40/mo) than the $61/mo it would require to get both companies’ networks via Sling.
One could suggest that after the networks undercut the streaming MVPDs with their own low-cost plans, turnabout is fair play. But that is immaterial if Sling’s carriage agreements require monthly subscriptions, as has been argued.
