Sling TV launched nationwide in early 2015, and a subscription was priced at just $20/mo at the time. Ever since then, the cost of Sling TV has continually increased, with that original $20 plan now costing $46 a month.
With the cheapest Sling TV subscription now costing more than double what it did at launch, here’s a look back at how we got here, and how the price of Sling TV has changed over the years.
The Sling TV of today offers a choice of plans and additional options to pick from. At the basic level there’s the $20/mo Sling Select plan.
For those in need of a little more, Sling also offers two richer monthly packages — Sling Orange and Sling Blue — with both starting at $46 a month.
There is also a combined Sling Orange & Blue plan which bundles the channels of both Orange and Blue together at a discounted rate, starting at $61/mo.
Of course, Sling also offers a variety of ways to customize these plans, and this means the monthly price can end up being significantly higher.
A Look Back at the Early Years of Sling TV
The Sling TV of 2015 was a very different service to the Sling we all know today.
For starters, there were no Orange and Blue plans to choose from. Instead, there was the one single Sling TV plan priced at $20 per month following a 7-day free trial.
This plan was widely viewed as the ‘ESPN plan’ at the time, and would later go on to become Sling Orange.
In addition to ESPN, the $20 Sling TV plan unlocked access to a selection of popular live TV channels, including ABC Family, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, CNN, Disney Channel, Food Network, HGTV, TBS, TNT, and Travel Channel.
In 2016, Sling TV revamped its service into the basis of what we see today. This included the rebranding of the ‘ESPN plan’ as Sling Orange and the introduction of the Sling Blue plan.
While Sling Orange was priced at $20 per month, Sling Blue, aka the ‘NBC plan’, launched at $25 per month.
It was also at this time that Sling introduced the ‘Sling Orange and Sling Blue’ (now Sling Orange & Blue) plan, originally priced at $40/mo.
Sling TV Price Increase History
Sling TV has encountered five separate price increases over the years, with the first arriving in 2018, and the most recent in 2024.
June 2018 — Sling TV Increases to $25
Considering Sling TV launched in early 2015, it took more than three years for the first price increase to arrive.
This was also at a time when Sling TV was facing additional pressure from increased competition within the live TV streaming space.
For example, 2016 saw the launch of DirecTV Now (now DirecTV), and 2017 saw fuboTV (now Fubo), Hulu Live TV, Philo, and YouTube TV all launch what would become the basis of the live TV services we have today.
The price increase was announced on June 28, 2018, and saw the cost of Sling Orange increase by $5 to $25 per month.
Considering this was already the cost of Sling Blue, which wasn’t impacted by the increase, the 2018 price change resulted in the two Sling plans aligning on price — a trend that’s still mostly in effect today and in spite of their differences.
Just like Sling Blue, the combined Orange & Blue plan was not affected by the 2018 price increase.
Sling also announced a number of changes at the same time as the price increase. These included the introduction of a free tier for the first time, and the launch of à la carte channel subscriptions.
The latter of which allowed subscribers to pick and choose premium subscriptions, even without a base subscription.
Dec. 2019 — Sling TV Increases to $30
It may have taken three years for the first price increase to arrive, but the second came much quicker, landing just 18 months later.
On Dec. 23, 2019, Sling confirmed another $5 price increase was being applied to its plans, taking the base cost up to $30 per month.
While this price increase took effect immediately for new subscribers, existing customers saw their price increase on their first bill after Jan. 22, 2020.
Unlike the 2018 price increase, which only affected Sling Orange, the 2019 price increase affected both base plans equally, marking the first real pricing increase for Sling Blue.
As both base plans were impacted, so was Sling Orange & Blue. Similar to the individual plans, the combined package also rose by $5, taking the total up to $45 per month, and marking its first price increase.
Some of the Extra add-ons available at the time also saw their own price increases.
Similar to 2018, Sling TV didn’t just announce a price increase but also made some changes to the plans. In fact, these changes were used to somewhat justify the price increase, with subscribers gaining access to channels like Big Ten Network (BTN), Fox News, and MSNBC (now MS NOW).
In addition, and for the first time, Sling TV subscribers gained access to a free cloud DVR, with 10 hours of recording space to play with.
Jan. 2021 — Sling TV Increases to $35
By the end of 2019, the world was beginning to face a global pandemic, and Sling was quick to act by announcing a one-year price guarantee.
The so-called ‘peace of mind’ guarantee only applied to subscribers who signed up before Aug., 1, 2020, and guaranteed no price increase before Aug. 1, 2021.
For those that signed up after the Aug. 1 deadline, there was no such protection. On Jan. 27, 2021, Sling TV announced an immediate price increase.
Similar to the previous increases, another $5 was added, taking the cost of both base plans up to $35 per month. The Orange & Blue plan was also impacted, increasing to $50 per month.
For those price-locked under the one-year guarantee, the cost of their plans increased by the same amount in Aug. 2021.
Just like with previous price increases, Sling TV announced some changes at the same time. On this occasion, the change was a fairly major boost to the DVR, with the number of recording hours increasing from 10 to 50.
Previously, Sling TV subscribers had to pay an additional $5 a month for DVR (50 hours), so the 2021 price increase might not have felt like an increase for those already paying extra for Sling TV’s DVR upgrade.
As the free DVR now included 50 hours for free, the Cloud DVR Plus add-on also received a boost, offering 200 hours of recording space for the same $5/mo.
Nov. 2022 — Sling TV Increases to $40
Almost two years later, the next price increase came into effect. Similar to every previous price increase so far, Sling TV raised the cost of its plans by another $5 a month.
The increase took place on Nov. 3rd, 2022, and resulted in the price of the Sling Orange and Sling Blue plans increasing to $40 a month.
The 2022 price increase also impacted those signed up to the combined plan. In November 2022, the Sling Orange & Blue plan increased to $55 a month.
These 2022 price increases went into immediate effect for all new subscribers, while existing subscribers were given until at least Dec. 3, 2022 before being charged the higher rate.
Compared to previous price increases, this one was different in the sense that Sling TV didn’t really announce any features or upgrades that could be seen as offsetting the cost.
The announcement did highlight new channels and improvements were being made, and due to arrive in the future, but nothing concrete was announced at the time.
Instead, Sling opted to focus more on the “challenging times” and how “the price of programming continues to rise.”
Dec. 2024 — Sling TV Increases to $46
It took another two years before the next price increase rolled through, eventually landing in December 2024, and just a few days before Christmas.
The price increase was confirmed on Nov. 20, and took effect for both new and existing subscribers on Dec. 20, 2024.
The 2024 price increase added another $5.99 to the cost of the Orange and Blue plans, increasing the minimum cost of each plan to $45.99 a month.
The combined Orange & Blue plan also increased by the same amount at the same time, increasing to a minimum of $60.99/mo.
The usual suspect of ‘rising programming costs‘ was used to justify the price increase at the time.
“These increases are industry wide — other leading streaming providers have had increases throughout 2024. Despite this, Sling continues to be the most affordable option with offerings more than twenty dollars less per month versus other providers,” Sling said in 2024.
Sling TV Price Increases — Recap and Summary
Sling TV has encountered five major price increases over the years, and considering it is a much older service than many others, that’s not too bad.
As importantly, the actual amount that Sling TV has increased by each time has been comparatively low. With four $5 and one $6 price increases over the years, the base cost of Sling TV has risen by $26 since 2015.
To put this into perspective, YouTube TV’s 2020 price increase was $15 on its own, taking the price up from $50 to $65 a month. Since then, the price of YouTube TV has increased twice more, rising to $83 a month.
Overall, and in spite of five separate price increases, Sling TV remains a good option for those looking for an affordable live TV provider.
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