Dish Network's Sling TV yesterday "launched a new package of on-demand content that includes programming from Fox Networks Group brands," according to Stephen Singer of the HARTFORD COURANT. Customers who purchase the new multi-stream package will "have access to Fox's regional sports networks and their local NBA and Major League Baseball telecasts," including YES Network. The package that includes Fox is "similar to Sling TV's current package, although it does not include Disney entities such as ESPN." Comcast is currently in a carriage dispute with YES, "blocking access to about 900,000 subscribers in Connecticut, New Jersey and a small part of Pennsylvania" (HARTFORD COURANT, 4/14). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Shalini Ramachandran writes Sling TV's new option "may be attractive to local sports fans and NFL lovers," as it will also include FS1 and the Fox broadcast network, which "airs a big lineup of NFL games" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/14). In New Jersey, John Brennan wrote the new package "would be an alternative way to watch Yankees games since they are not currently on Comcast (and may not be all season)." Sling said that new customers can "try the multi-stream service free for seven days and with no annual contract or long-term commitment" (NORTHJERSEY.com, 4/13).
WAY TO APPEAL TO CONSUMERS: Fox Networks Group Chair & CEO Peter Rice yesterday at the '16 CAA World Congress of Sports said Dish Network’s new Sling TV package “puts consumers first.” Rice said the new offering “reflects the way consumers want to consume content.” FNG President & COO Randy Freer added, “You have to look to new ways to reach your customers, new ways to get out there. You can’t be in a world where your first step is to protect what you have. You have to move forward, and Sling is just one way where there are more options.” Freer said the deal for the new channel was not a response to the growing number of cord-cutters. Instead, he noted it is an “evolution of how you distribute your product.” He said it also is about how companies put their content in front of consumers “in a way that they want to watch it, can afford it, and in an IP-delivered world, don’t have all the associated costs that are in your cable bill today.” Freer said sports in general and content “gets this label of all being too expensive.” Freer: “We don’t spend enough time talking about the value of your ability to see any kind of content … any time you want for a relatively small amount of money" (Josh Carpenter, Staff Writer).
