- Sling TV is offering a new way to watch live TV without a subscription
- Customers can now buy a day, weekend or week pass to the platform
- From as little as $5, the new passes are available just in time for football season
Sling TV is giving its customers more control and flexibility over their spending by offering new ways to access its live TV streaming platform.
The service has launched a new $4.99 Day Pass that allows customers to stream up to 34 channels for 24 hours from the time they purchase it. Some of the Sling TV channels included in the pass are ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, TNT, TBS, AMC, CNN, Bloomberg TV, HGTV, Food Network, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon Jr., Investigation Discovery, MGM+ Drive-In, Comedy Central as well as much more.
In case a day is not enough time, Sling TV has also launched new Week and Weekend Passes for $14.99 and $9.99. All of its passes have the option to add and mix extras in case you can’t access the channels you want, although these vary in prices: each pack is $1 extra for Day Pass, $2 for the Weekend Pass and $3 for the Week Pass.
There are seven extras to choose from, including Sports Extra (SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNU, NBA TV and more), News Extra (NewsMax, NewsNation, OAN Network, Law & Crime, Science Channel and more), Entertainment Extra (Paramount Network, MTV, Game Show Network, TV Land and more), Hollywood Extra (Turner Classic Movies, SundanceTV, REELZ and more), Lifestyle Extra (Hallmark Channel, VH1, Lifetime Movie Network and more), Heartland Extra (Great American Family, Outdoor Channel, INSP and more), and Kids Extra (Disney Junior, Disney XD, NickToons, TeenNick, and more).
For anyone who doesn’t want to commit to another subscription to one of the best streaming services, and plans to watch more than one sports game (which would mean Pay-Per-View (PPV) wouldn’t work), then these new passes are the ideal middle ground. Because the passes are a one-off purchase, there’s no need to cancel as there are no recurring charges. The passes also offer customers the ability to still purchase PPV events without a subscription.
Opinion: Flexible passes are the perfect middle ground for anyone that swaps and changes their streaming subscriptions
It’s no secret that streaming services are getting increasingly more expensive, but you may not know that a lot of savvy shoppers out there are slashing their TV bills by as much as 71% by subscription hopping. For anyone not familiar with the tactic, it essentially involves canceling or pausing services until you’ve built up a big enough watchlist to sign up again.
This is one of the best ways to avoid having several streamers on the go at once, but it does take some extra effort to have to switch between several subscriptions throughout the year. It also means you might miss out on big premieres, which can be frustrating for anyone who likes to be up to date with the latest TV hits.
Enter streaming passes. Sling TV’s new offering forgoes the need for a subscription, giving customers even more flexibility. It’s the perfect middle of the road offering between a monthly or annual subscription and PPV, which is restricted to live TV events rather than allowing access to an individual on-demand title to stream.
Considering that live TV is also increasingly becoming more competitive as companies look to snatch up the sporting rights of some of the most prestigious tournaments, a new flexible payment option is something I expect will be very attractive to anyone that doesn’t necessarily want to sign up to a platform that’s only going to lose their sport in less than a month.
The passes are essentially another form of PPV, but they allow customers to access a full streaming service’s library of movies and shows for a limited time without having to shell out any more than the price of a cup of coffee. Such a low price point will likely make these passes even more attractive as there’s less of a chance of getting locked into a payment cycle – and I’d like to see Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and rivals do something similar.
