“Don’t watch? Don’t pay”: Dish offers new skinny bundle to satellite customers
Dish’s core satellite TV service and Sling TV (its service for cord cutters) appeal to different types of customers, yet with the introduction of a new skinny bundle option for satellite subscribers, the company is acknowledging that even its most loyal customers may also want to “take back TV.”
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In what Dish is dubbing “the Flex Pack,” customers can pay $39.99 per month for a pared down selection of channels – a skinny bundle – rather than pay for bloated bundles featuring many channels that often go unwatched.
Taking a page from the Sling TV playbook, Dish will offer a base of channels in its Flex Pack core package that can be supplemented with additional channel packs grouped around certain themes (for customers who do not want any add-ons, they can also just pay $29.99 for the core pack). And whereas Sling TV offers 20 channels in its core, $20-per-month package with $5 add-ons, the Dish Flex Pack core offers 50 channels and add-on prices vary.
For example, the Locals Pack is $10 per month and features CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, as well as Univision and others based on the local market; the Outdoor Pack is $4 per month and features the Outdoor Channel, Outside TV, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network
“Our customers are frustrated with having to pay for hundreds of channels, most of which they never watch,” said Warren Schlichting, DISH executive vice president of Marketing, Programming and Media Sales. “Flex Pack provides a level of flexibility and control that brings our customers closer to the ideal of fully tailoring their channel lineup.”
Below, more details on the add-on packs:
Locals Pack ($10 per month): CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, as well as Univision and others based on the local market
Variety Pack ($6 per month): Investigation Discovery, Lifetime Movie Network, Freeform, Bravo, BET, Crime & Investigation
Kids Pack ($10 per month): Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Animal Planet, Nick Jr., Disney XD, Nicktoons, Boomerang, Baby TV
National Action Pack ($10 per month): ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, Velocity, AXS TV, Fuse, TV Games Network, TVG2, Universal HD
News Pack ($10 per month): FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Weather Channel, CNBC, FOX Business Network, BBC World News, Bloomberg, TheBlaze
Heartland Pack ($6 per month): Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, GSN, OWN, Uplifting Entertainment, Discovery Family, Baby TV, PIXL, RFD-TV, Ride TV, FamilyNet
Regional Action Pack ($10 per month): In-market regional sports network(s), Big Ten Network, FS2, Longhorn Network, Outside TV, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, World Fishing Network, ESPN Buzzer Beater
Outdoor Pack ($4 per month): Outdoor Channel, Outside TV, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network