Sling TV has now increased the cloud DVR limit, following a new price increase. Before now, Sling TV’s cloud DVR was one of the most limiting in the live TV streaming market. While consumers will now pay more for a Sling TV subscription, they will also get a more comparable recording experience as well.
Cloud DVR is one of the ways Sling TV has managed to keep costs low. In fact, up until the end of 2019, Sling TV didn’t offer any cloud DVR at all with its base subscriptions, requiring subscribers to pay extra each month to record movies, shows, and live events. However, as more consumers look to record the content they want and watch it at a later time, Sling TV started to include the feature with Orange and Blue plans for free..
Previously, Sling TV subscribers were only provided with ten hours of cloud DVR with their base subscription. With the latest changes, that limit has now increased to 50 hours, putting Sling TV’s recording feature on par with Hulu Live TV.
In addition, Sling TV does offer a ‘DVR Plus’ add-on which previously increased the recording limit from ten hours to 50 hours. With the free DVR having now increased to the same limit, Sling TV has also upped the number of hours included with the $5 DVR Plus add-on to 200 hours. Again, this puts Sling TV’s premium DVR experience on par with Hulu’s ‘Enhanced Cloud DVR’ add-on which also offers 200 hours. Although at $5 per month, Sling’s cloud DVR add-on remains cheaper than Hulu’s $10 solution.
Cloud DVR and existing subscribers
The new base and add-on cloud DVR increases apply to both new and existing subscribers equally. Therefore, existing subscribers will see their recording limit increase starting today. This is in spite of existing subscribers being able to avoid the latest price increase for now.
Previously, Sling TV issued a one-year price guarantee that locks existing subscribers to their current rate through July 2021. While they are still paying the lower rates, Sling has confirmed they will immediately gain the benefits of the greater cloud DVR recording limits.
This also applies to subscribers signed up to Sling’s Total TV Deal. While the price of the add-on is also going up, existing Total TV Deal subscribers will remain locked to their current pricing for the add-on through July 2021, but get the 200 hours of recording space provided through the inclusion of the DVR Plus add-on.
Besides the price increase and when it affects an individual subscriber, the overall value offered with the cloud DVR has now increased. Ten hours was always very limiting and the option to increase that limit to 200 hours for $5 more each month makes Sling TV’s cloud DVR more in line with other services.
Source: Sling TV
