The Dish Network-owned Internet TV service Sling TV added compatibility on Amazon Fire HD and HDX tablets today, making it even easier to take live TV on the go with the burgeoning service. New customers will be able to try the over-the-top live streaming TV service free for two weeks before having to pay its $20 monthly fee.
“Amazon customers now have more ways to access the best live and on-demand content TV has to offer today,” said Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch in a statement. “With the introduction of Sling TV on Amazon Fire HD and HDX tablets, millions of Amazon customers can now access their entertainment in and outside of their home.”
Sling TV’s $20 basic subscription offers users 23 live streaming channels including ESPN, AMC, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS, and A&E, among others. It also offers $5 add-on packs — Kids Extra, World News Extra, Hollywood Extra, Lifestyle Extra, and Sports Extra — for access to additional channels. HBO, which is a $15 per month add-on, and other on-demand and pay-per-view content is also available.
Since the cord-cutter launched in January, it has beefed up its device support to include the Amazon Fire TV and Fire Stick as well as iOS, Android, Mac, PC, Nexus Player, Roku, and Xbox One systems. Sling’s new app for Amazon HD and HDX is now available as a free download on the Amazon app store.
Support for the Amazon tablets comes as competition for online streamers continues to intensify: Comcast has a streaming service coming within “weeks,” and Verizon plans to launch one this year.
Considering Dish’s pay-TV subscriptions — which include Sling TV subscribers — fell 81,000 last quarter, subscriptions from the over-the-top streamer haven’t yet offset declines in Dish subscriptions. (Dish has not disclosed subscription figures for Sling TV.) Adding support for Amazon Fire tablets comes as Dish tries every strategy it can to turn its subscription numbers around, and beef up subscriptions for its pioneering new cord-cutter service.
