The price of the Sling TV day pass drops to $1 to celebrate the Disney lawsuit victory
Dish Network lowered the price of its 24-hour Sling TV Day Pass through the end of the month after a federal judge ruled in the pay-TV provider’s favor in a lawsuit filed by Disney to block its short-term streaming plans.
To “celebrate” the legal ruling, Dish announced Wednesday that Sling TV is offering $1 day passes (regularly $4.99) for new and returning customers from now until November 30. Day Pass subscriptions include live and on-demand streaming access to Sling Orange tier networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, A&E, TBS, Disney Channel, Comedy Central, History Channel and CNN. The Day Pass provides instant access to live sports, entertainment and news 24 hours a day with no long-term commitment required.
“The court’s decision is a victory for consumers and an affirmation of what Sling stands for,” Seth Van Sickel, SVP of Sling TV, said in a statement. “For too long, traditional ‘big media’ companies have deliberately stifled innovation and forced customers to pay for more content than they want or need. We believe customers deserve the flexibility to stream the content they want, when they want, at a price they can afford. Consumers deserve affordable TV, not tied to long-term contracts or inflated offerings. The $1 Day Pass is our way of saying thank you to the customers we fight for every day.”
In August, Disney sued Dish over the Sling Passes (which include daily, weekend and weekly plans), saying they violated the terms of the companies’ carriage agreement. Warner Bros. Discovery also separately sued Dish over its Sling’s Pass offering, similarly alleging breach of contract.
In a November 17 ruling in the case (ESPN Enterprises et al. v. Dish Network LLC), Judge Arun Subramanian of the Southern District of New York denied Disney’s request for a preliminary injunction to block Sling’s Passes. The judge found that Disney had not demonstrated a likelihood of success in its breach of contract claims, nor had the company shown that it would suffer irreparable harm. He also ruled that Disney has not shown that a preliminary injunction here “is in the public interest or that the balance of stock favors an injunction.”
According to the judge’s ruling, Disney’s distribution contract with Dish does not define a minimum subscription term and the definition of a “subscriber” includes anyone authorized to receive “any level of video programming service or package from programming networks,” even including free service users, regardless of whether they are charged a fee or have an account. “That broad definition clearly includes the users of the passes at issue in this case,” Subramanian wrote in the ruling.
Disney argued that Sling TV’s passes will cause the company to harm its relationships with other distributors, business model, value and brand, and direct-to-consumer streaming service ESPN Unlimited, and infringe on its right to bar “unauthorized distribution” from its networks. “But Disney fails to demonstrate that these alleged damages are not speculative,” Subramanian ruled.
A Disney representative said in a statement: “While we have been unable to obtain injunctive relief to stop Dish/Sling sales of Day Pass, Weekend Pass and Week Pass, we look forward to defending our position at trial, where all facts and evidence will be presented.”
