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DISH Network's (DISH) Sling TV Launches Upgraded App in Beta

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Dish Network -owned live TV streaming service Sling TV recently announced the launch of an all-new Sling TV experience, starting with select Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) Amazon Fire TV devices. The upgrade includes a new app, launched in beta, with a new interface and user experience.

Users can watch the most popular channels to catch live sports, news, entertainment, and gain access over 150,000 shows and movies on-demand.

The redesign comes with a lot of changes, including a left-side navigation column to explore the Guide, see on-demand content or browse recordings. Additionally, the new home-screen gives users quick access to favorite shows and recordings and also focuses on content recommendations.

The channel guide has been reimagined with the option to mark favorite channels, filter channels, and sort the order.

A dedicated tab for Sling TV’s cloud DVR has been added for users to watch and manage all recorded content in one place. By default, the service comes with 50 hours of DVR space, with a provision to expand the same to 200 hours for an extra $5 per month.

For a limited time, new and returning customers can get the upgraded Sling TV for $10 for the first month, which will be rolled out to all Sling TV compatible devices throughout this year, including availability on Roku (ROKU - Free Report) devices this summer.

Growing Efforts to Boost Subscriber Growth

The launch of the redesigned Sling TV app is expected to aid subscriber growth in the near term. As of Mar 31, 2021, DISH Network had a total of 11.06 million Pay-TV subscribers in the United States, including 8.68 million DISH TV subscribers and 2.37 million SLING TV subscribers.

However, Sling TV lost 100K sequentially from 2.47 million subs at the end of 2020 due to lower subscriber disconnects resulting from Dish’s focus on acquiring and retaining higher-quality subscribers, partially offset by lower Sling TV subscriber activations.

Sling TV continues to experience increased competition, including competition from other subscription video on-demand and live-linear OTT service providers like Disney’s Hulu with Live TV, AT&T’s TV Now and Alphabet’s YouTube TV among others in the increasingly competitive streaming space, which is expected to reach $184.2 billion by 2027, per Grand View Research.

Nonetheless, last week, Verizon (VZ - Free Report) announced a free two-month access to Sling TV for its new and existing Verizon customers with a Verizon wireless, Fios or 5G Home account. Those who sign up for the deal can choose from several options, starting with either Sling Blue or Sling Orange, each of which normally costs $35 a month. This is expected to aid new subscriber additions on Sling TV in the near term.

Sling Blue offers more than 45 channels focused on news and entertainment, including Bravo, CNN, TNT, Fox News, NFL Network, HGTV, History, and AMC. The sports and family focused Sling Orange boast about 30 channels, including ESPN and Nick Jr.

Moreover, in April, Sling TV expanded its sports betting channel lineup with the launch of DraftKings Basketball, Baseball and Hockey channels on its platform.

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