Sling TV can be a good and affordable solution for live TV streaming, but the subscription service is not an option for those looking to stream Bally Sports. This is not an issue that’s specific to Sling TV as Bally Sports is missing from many of the major live TV streaming services. Although this situation may change in the future, there are currently no indications that Bally Sports is set to become available on Sling TV.
The live TV streaming market can be a difficult one to navigate considering the variation in price and channels between the different services. Even if a consumer does manage to find a service that offers the right selection of channels at the right price, that might only be a short-term solution. After all, it is not uncommon for live TV services to increase the price and/or remove channels.
In fact, this is exactly what happened with Bally Sports and Sling TV. In early 2021, Bally Sports launched as the new branding and name for various Fox Sports regional sports networks. However, Sling TV (along with Dish Network) dropped the same Fox Sports channels in 2020. Since then, and in spite of the name change, Bally Sports has remained unavailable through Sling TV.
Bally Sports unlikely to return to Sling
While it is possible that channels dropped will make a return to the same service, there are no suggestions that’s likely to happen soon with Bally Sports. To be clear, that’s not to say it won’t happen, just that there are no obvious signs that it will. For starters, when a service drops channels they don’t tend to return in general, with the removal usually the result of the lack of a deal being struct between the companies. While many services often threaten to drop channels, actually removing them is another thing entirely, and a situation that’s typically much harder to come back from.
Another indication that Bally Sports is unlikely to return to Sling TV is the other live TV streaming services. Like Sling TV, the Fox Sports channels now operating under Bally Sports were previously also dropped by fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, and YouTube TV. In fact, DirecTV Stream (formerly AT&T TV) is really the only live TV streaming service that currently includes Bally Sports in its channel lineup. With so many competing services having all dropped the same channels, the reality of a deal being done with any one of them would seem even more unlikely than if a single service had dropped the channels. In other words, there appears to be more of a fundamental issue with Bally Sports, one that most of the live TV streaming services, including Sling TV, have been unable to resolve.
Once again, none of this is to say that Bally Sports won’t return to Sling TV, or to any of the other live TV streaming services. Instead, it just seems more unlikely than likely at this point. Not to mention, Bally Sports appears to be preparing to launch a standalone subscription service next year to fill the void it has left at the live TV streaming service level. Considering Sling TV is generally a much cheaper solution than other services, paying an additional amount each month for access to Bally Sports might be an option for those that don’t want to lose out on their local sports coverage.
Sling TV and Bally Sports summary
Bally Sports is currently unavailable to stream via Sling TV and it seems unlikely that is going to change soon. The affordable live TV service did previously offer the channels when they were branded as Fox Sports, but dropped them before the Bally Sports rebrand took effect. The change of name does not appear to have made any difference in terms of accessing the sports channels through Sling TV.
This is not necessarily an issue with Sling TV specifically, considering many of the major live TV streaming services have also dropped the same channels in recent years. Due to this, and although not much of a consolation for existing subscribers, leaving Sling TV to gain access to Bally Sports is not really an option unless switching to DirecTV Stream. For those that are looking to watch their regional sports networks, Bally Sports is expected to launch a standalone service in 2022. Of course, this will inevitably mean the consumer has to pay more each month if they plan to pay for both subscriptions.
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