What is stopping you, right now, from switching to streaming TV services (or, alternatively, add more streaming channels)? If you’re like most people, it’s the lack of the channels that you actually want. We’re in a tricky stage of dissolution and convergence where companies are trying to hang onto their content in every way possible, and for now it’s still really hard to get exactly what you want at any reasonable cord-cutting price. That brings us to Sling TV and it’s latest Fox package, which highlights both the benefits of streaming TV and just how far the industry still has to go to compete, as we should you in our Dish vs DirecTV comparison.
About this Fox package: It’s an alternative $20 offering to what Sling TV in the past. Basically, it cuts out all of the Disney channels, and puts in a bunch of Fox channels, which include Fox Sports, FX, and the YES Network. It’s a win for Dish Network as well, which has been facing news of rival DirecTV’s streaming package via AT&T.
You can immediately see the difficulties here, especially for sports fans. Getting Fox Sports is a huge win if you are switching over to streaming TV…but without the Disney channels, that means that you are losing ESPN, which puts you right back where you were before (it also means that other Disney-owned networks like ABC aren’t going to be showing up at all). It’s great that Sling TV is expanding its offerings with new channels, but they are taking just as much away with the other hand.
Why not just offer both ESPN and Fox channels as add-ons to a single service? Competition. A whole lot of competition from networks that continue to fear just what the switch to streaming means for their revenue. That makes streaming contracts slow and awkward, and leads to “one step forward, two steps back” scenarios like this.
On the bright side, if you like Fox programming a lot, you now have an easy way to stream it and potentially cut the cable cord. Please keep in mind that live streaming for Fox TV channels is a bit regional – there’s no guarantee that it will work where you live, so you’ll want to check what’s available in your area before choosing the new Sling TV package. In the Dish vs. DirecTV war of 2016, offering Fox channels is an important move, but make sure you can benefit from it!
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