Sling TV is slashing the price of its Day Pass to just $1 after a federal court denied Disney's attempt to block the short-term streaming plans. The move is a direct and public jab in a larger legal fight over the future of television bundling.
- Contract clash: The standoff kicked off after Sling, owned by Dish Network, launched its Day, Weekend, and Week Passes. At the heart of Disney's complaint is that the passes violate the core of their carriage agreement, which it says is built exclusively around monthly subscriptions for channels like ESPN.
- No harm, no foul: In his decision, Judge Arun Subramanian stated that Disney hadn't shown any real damage from the passes, dismissing claims of 'irreparable harm.' He also dismantled Disney's central argument, ruling that the contract's definition of a 'subscriber' was flexible enough to include the new short-term users.
- The victory lap: Sling is leaning hard into the outcome, framing it as a win for consumer choice. “The $1 Day Pass is our way of saying thank you to the customers we fight for every day,” said Seth Van Sickel, Sling TV’s senior vice president, in a statement.
While Sling celebrates this round, the legal fight is far from over. The conflict has become an industry-wide pushback against unbundling, as Warner Bros. Discovery has hit Dish with a similar lawsuit. The battle is set against a high-stakes backdrop, as the current carriage deal between Dish and Disney is set to expire in less than a year. Meanwhile, Sling is heavily promoting the pass for major sporting events like college football rivalries and F1 races, showing exactly what kind of content is at the center of the unbundling fight.
