Sling TV is raising its prices (yet again)

If you rely on Sling TV to access local network channels, then you can expect your wallet to feel just a little bit lighter at the end of each billing cycle. The streaming service provider has confirmed price hikes across both its Sling Blue and its Sling Select plan, specifically for users with bundled access to ABC, NBC, and Fox within their plans.

Sling Blue pricing has been rased to $55 per month when coupled with the aforementioned networks, which is an increase of $4 over the previous $51 per month offering. Breaking things down a bit, the base $46 price for the service hasn’t changed, but the add-on price for ABC, NBC, and Fox has been upped from $5 to $9 each month.

Sling Select, which was first launched in August of last year, has also succumbed to more costly subscription pricing. The streaming package will now go for $30 per month, which is a $10 increase over the existing $20 per month for users with access to local programming.

The silver lining here is that if you happen to be in an area where Sling TV doesn’t offer access to local channels, then your monthly subscription fees should remain unchanged going forward.

Prices are slingshotting into the stratosphere

Sling TV is subject to the whims of program distribution fees

Across the entire film and television streaming industry, rising subscription costs have become an ever more ubiquitous reality. With stronger competition now than ever before, and with intellectual property (IP) owners choosing to create their own proprietary streaming platforms, players like Sling TV are undoubtedly feeling the pinch.

Back in December 2024, Sling hiked its prices due to “rising costs from program providers and inflation.” It’s certainly true that program distribution and licensing fees are more expensive today than they were two or three years ago, and competing content providers like Paramount+, Disney+, Peacock, Max, and more have all been raising prices on a near-regular cadence.

For consumers, this is bad news — we’re paying more money to access the same (or, in some cases, a shrinking) library of content, which has resulted in streaming service disillusionment and even an uptick in internet-based piracy. It’s anyone’s guess whether the streaming scene is a bubble waiting to burst, but, in the meantime, there is at least a growing selection of over-the-top (OTT) content providers out there offering free access to movies and shows.