Sling TV for Free, no subscription cost

[Lue]

Dish is also exploring the possibility of a free or low-cost package funded through advertising, Dish Chief Executive Officer Joseph Clayton said in an interview last month in New York. Very slick marketing, a basic package FREE for everyone, then, set the hook for the next package up. Betting that 85% of cell phones/tablets will be running FREE Sling TV, Just imagine those numbers!!!!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-...month-streaming-tv-service-with-espn-tnt.html

What the service won’t have are broadcast network channels. Dish is leaving those out to avoid paying hefty retransmission fees for content that’s available elsewhere. “It was a very strategic decision for us not to force people to pay for those networks again when they already have alternatives,” says Roger Lynch, a Dish executive who’s becoming Sling TV’s CEO.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2015-01-05/dish-sling-tv-service-takes-on-cable-television

But wait, there's more
Next gen. Tablets/phones will have TV tuners built in. So add on (10-16 for small towns, 30-50 large metro areas) network and sub channels for FREE!!
http://www.techhive.com/article/2023760/rca-android-tablet-packs-dual-digital-tv-tuners.html

Sling TV is going to rock.
Cooking Channel Travel Channel, Great American Channel,
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0165719/news

Dish totally dropped the "Dish " moniker and for a good reason, A dish antenna is no longer needed, this is the future, company headed in a new direction.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ing-through-dishs-sling-tv-no-cable-required/

 

[ChadT41]

Its the first month free with launch, on Xbox One. Already posted in another thread.

 

[Stargazer]

This would be like having FTA on satellite only one a device with the option to add channels. They should do this on their satellite tv service as well. Reminds me of the free channels on Roku.

 

[Lue]

This will be a boon for the Homeless Theater market also.
Charlie supplied free channels on a free Obama phone ran thru one of the new dirt cheap pico projectors (40 bucks) viola!, you will be seeing these cats in the homeless camps kicking back with a bottle of 2 buck chuck and big screen theater. LG must have seen this coming. Life is Good!
Not sure if you guys/gals can see the big picture as clear as the homeless can, but this Sling/Free Sling TV is the start of a quantum leap for us home bound people also.

Can't wait for the Sling TV, Real HD/ 4k, internet, premium home package. Will take some of that Free advertiser funded Sling TV movies also, I am needing some replacement windows.

http://homecinemacenter.gmc.globalm...tuner-hdmi-usb-sd-game-proyector-8057274.html

 

[theoak]

To me the networks WOULD want this.

This is almost a step back.

Streaming TV content ... which then means guess what else we are now watching ... commercials and ads that you probably cannot fast forward through.

 

[Lue]

The Ad supported FREE Sling TV will have lots of commercials one would think. The pay Sling TV's first package aimed at the 18-35 yr. olds will have to be minimum advertising because this group does not take kindly to commercialism. It is said to have a 3 day look back on some programming, will we be able to fast forward thru commercials ? I hope so.

Theme is Take Back TV
More features to come
Sure the Dish international streaming service has been going on a while, but, this is new to us Americans and will probably have adjustments made.
25-30 Channels with more to come
small add on channel packs with more to come
Maker studios with 10 billion views included
http://www.maker.tv/
Be sure to watch the Sling TV Press conference here
http://live.cnet.com/Event/Dish_Network_press_conference_at_CES_2015?Page=0

 

[Character Zero]

Well the live streams will have the advertising that comes with the live stream. They really can't add more ads on top of that (no time). But for the playback, I wouldn't be surprised if they were required to have ads. Probably like Hulu does on anything you watch new or old. But if they could replace the 2-3 mins of ads with just 1-2 30 second ads, that would be nice. For me $20 is a really good deal, commercials or not. Heck, I spent about 20 years not being able to skip commercials. I think ESPN is huge here, live sports have been the sticking point for potential cord cutters, myself included. I hope the $5 Sports add-on is SEC Network (its ESPN right?).

 

[MikeD-C05]

So according to Vivek there are 10 million screens with the hopper /joey system. So does that mean 10 million subs? IF so that leaves only 4 million subs yet to upgrade to the hopper.

 

[Lue]

ESPN is correct, SEC and other conferences would be killer a la cart choices, The ad industry is going to have to start making ads that are funny, engaging etc. etc., I am hoping with this first package for 18-35 year olds they will break the mold and turn some of the newer, better writers loose and see if they can make commercials not so dang annoying anymore, would be the perfect targeted platform for it. At least we won't have to watch Tampax and Viagra commercials one would think. According to news, Dish will be inserting some ads also. I could handle and maybe enjoy watching commercials such as quadcopters/drones, sports cars, really cool travel destinations, really cool cutting edge products etc. etc. etc.. You can bet on fast food/pizza commercials with non cooking 18-35 yr. old males watching, they could make those SOOOOOOOO dang funny if they just have the right people. They have the POWER and the FOCUSED PLATFORM to make a quantum leap here. TAKE BACK TV!!!!

 

[dare2be]

I'm sure that 10 million screens is how many TVs, not subs. So if you assume an average of 3 TVs per Hopper account, that would put it in the 3 million sub range. I make the 3 TV average assumption based on the fact that many 1-2 TV households would be reluctant to upgrade to the Hopper due to the higher fees involved, like me.

 

[Character Zero]

ESPN is correct, SEC and other conferences would be killer a la cart choices, The ad industry is going to have to start making ads that are funny, engaging etc. etc., I am hoping with this first package for 18-35 year olds they will break the mold and turn some of the newer, better writers loose and see if they can make commercials not so dang annoying anymore, would be the perfect targeted platform for it. At least we won't have to watch Tampax and Viagra commercials one would think. According to news, Dish will be inserting some ads also.

I believe that in the stream there are placeholders for local ads (like local car dealers), I assume Dish would be filling them with their own ads. Maybe they can sell that time that would otherwise be used for local ads (since local wouldn't be a thing here). But I am not sure they can add extra advertising to live streams. For instance, if you tune into Chopped on the Food network at 10:15, you would expect to see the same live stream as on TV. You wouldn't have like a 30 second ad to watch before the stream started, and you wouldn't have extra ads that would cause the program to run past 10:30 (lets say its a 30 minute program). Now on the replay I can see them adding whatever they want. You are time-shifting at that point anyway. As long as a 30 minute program isn't being expanded to 35 minutes to accommodate additional advertising on the playback.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I'm sure that 10 million screens is how many TVs, not subs. So if you assume an average of 3 TVs per Hopper account, that would put it in the 3 million sub range. I make the 3 TV average assumption based on the fact that many 1-2 TV households would be reluctant to upgrade to the Hopper due to the higher fees involved, like me.

Yes , you could be right, but I wonder why DISH doesn't release how many subs have the hopper. I am really curious how many of the older receivers are out there that need to be upgraded. While I am thinking about it ,since there are plenty of subs who don't need the whole house system, will DISH create a new two tuner receiver model to replace the older Vip receiver and if so will it be in the same mold and interface as the hopper? Or will they just keep on keeping on with the older Vip receivers till they just do away with them threw sub attrition?

 

[dare2be]

I'm guessing attrition. I'll be one of those down the road complaining about the forced obsolescence.

 

[king3pj]

I'm probably squarely in their target market for something like this. I'm 27 and I get all my TV content from OTA and streaming. I don't see myself taking advantage of this with the channels offered.

If they included a local RSN for that price I would be interested. I would also rather have access to HBO on demand content than ESPN if they are going to have one expensive channel. I see what they are going for with the channels offered though.

This is aimed directly at sports fans. ESPN and ESPN2 are obvious. TBS has MLB Sunday afternoon games during the regular season and tons of MLB postseason games. TNT carries lots of NBA games and both TBS and TNT are big for NCAA March Madness basketball. Again, a RSN for coverage of the local MLB, NHL, and NBA teams would make this a very appealing package for sports fans.

I think the rest of the channels offered are good choices that give some nice variety to the package. You have ABC Family, Cartoon Network, and Disney for kids, CNN for news, and Food Network, Travel Channel, and HGTV for women/family programing. For the small amount of channels offered, it's a pretty good mix.

 

[Lue]

Can you imagine Ad supported TV with minimum commercials that were so relevant and funny that you actually get mad when you have to go to the restroom, don't want to watch comedy TV because you are tired from watching funny commercials, get upset because they will not re air your favorite commercials. Take Back TV.

 

[Lue]

Stick around, according to the Press Conference, More packages, add on's, and channels are coming.

 

[king3pj]

Stick around, according to the Press Conference, More packages, add on's, and channels are coming.

I saw the sports add-on mentioned but the USA Today article I read speculated that it would likely just be the rest of the ESPN suite (ESPN U, ESPNews, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, etc.) If that's what it is I'm not interested. I would consider the base package plus a sports pack that included MLB Network and Fox Sports Detroit for $25 on a month to month basis. I would only subscribe from the end of March (for March Madness) until the beginning of October (for MLB season).

The problem there is that you are starting to get to the price point where I can consider other options. I talked to the people at my local Charter office last week because my internet promo pricing runs out in a couple months. They offered to drop me back down to the Spectrum internet and TV Select bundle (similar to AT 200) with new customer promo pricing if I added TV services. With taxes and CableCard rental included this would come to $28 more than my internet will be by itself.

I am strongly considering doing this during baseball season. There are no contracts and I was told that my internet would stay at the promo price even when I remove TV in October so I would be saving on my internet again when it's over. For $3 more than Sling TV with the sports pack add on I would get all those channels plus a lot more. Not only that but it would be more reliable since it's not internet based and I would get to use my snazzy 4 tuner Tivo Roamio with it.

 

[Mo Fly]

I'm probably squarely in their target market for something like this. I'm 27 and I get all my TV content from OTA and streaming. I don't see myself taking advantage of this with the channels offered.

If they included a local RSN for that price I would be interested. I would also rather have access to HBO on demand content than ESPN if they are going to have one expensive channel. I see what they are going for with the channels offered though.

This is aimed directly at sports fans. ESPN and ESPN2 are obvious. TBS has MLB Sunday afternoon games during the regular season and tons of MLB postseason games. TNT carries lots of NBA games and both TBS and TNT are big for NCAA March Madness basketball. Again, a RSN for coverage of the local MLB, NHL, and NBA teams would make this a very appealing package for sports fans.

I think the rest of the channels offered are good choices that give some nice variety to the package. You have ABC Family, Cartoon Network, and Disney for kids, CNN for news, and Food Network, Travel Channel, and HGTV for women/family programing. For the small amount of channels offered, it's a pretty good mix.

it's a good mix of channels. add the golf channel and i'm in.

 

[silverdiskdj]

it's a good mix of channels. add the golf channel and i'm in.

I like the selection. I am a 26 year old male who enjoys Food Network (Triple D!) and my wife and I like to watch HGTV and Travel Channel together for their Property Brothers, Hotel Impossible, etc. It would be nice to have those added others like TBS and TNT, and occasionally ESPN. I cut the cord from DISH, ironically, maybe 6-7 months ago. I wanted something a bit more... and TWC offered their basic package for $10 more per month than their standard internet price, so I bit. Too bad the added fees/taxes are making it not worth it too much, for only added TBS and ABC Family. I can go back to just internet from them, use my TiVO for locals (which I already have an antenna wired through the house), and then this through our Roku boxes. It is almost as if Sling TV was made for my wife and I... all our favorite channels.

I am very much looking forward to this!

 

[Scherrman]

You are a very intersting person @Lue