Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Dish dishes on Charter Communications, claims it’s trying to sabotage Sling TV

sling tv 18 hour free preview for new customers dish app
Rich Shibley/Digital Trends
As one of the first Internet TV services to launch, Sling TV has faced its share of obstacles this year. While Sling is widely available, Sony’s PlayStation Vue has a larger channel lineup, giving it somewhat of an edge for those looking to cancel their cable, but the Dish-owned service doesn’t see other streaming services as its biggest competition.

In a recent FCC filing, Dish has accused cable giant Charter Communications of trying to sabotage Sling TV by discouraging companies from licensing their content to the service, Fierce Cable reports. This follows a prior filing from Dish regarding concerns about Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

“Charter’s laser-like focus on Sling TV shows that it views Sling TV as a serious competitive threat rather than a benign interest,” the filing reads. “It also shows that Charter does not believe its broadband Internet customers are more important than its video subscribers; instead, Charter is focused on protecting its video subscriber base rather than enhancing the broadband Internet experience for its subscribers.”

Much of the letter has been redacted before being shared, but it’s clear that Dish is not pulling punches. “Charter’s documents further reveal thinly veiled complaints to programmers about making their programming available to Sling TV and other OTT products,” the statement reads.

Charter responded with a statement of its own, saying that there is “no more friendly broadband provider” to streaming services. “Charter’s slowest speed is 60 Mbps, we have no data caps, no usage based billing, no contracts and no modem fees,” the company says.

Working with content providers is already one of the most difficult parts of Internet TV, with Apple’s inability to secure deals eventually leading to its decision to suspend its own TV streaming service earlier this month. If Charter is actually actively dissuading companies from working with Sling TV, Dish’s reaction would be understandable.

Earlier this month, Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch claimed that Comcast’s data caps are purposely targeted at preventing its cable customers from unsubscribing, claiming the caps “just happen to be at a level at or below what someone would use if they’re watching TV on the Internet.”

Related: Try Sling TV free for 7 days

Editors' Recommendations

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
NordVPN tries to scare you into using its new Apple TV app
NordVPN app listing on Apple TV.

As we've written previously, tvOS 17 opened the floodgates for VPNs to run on Apple TV hardware. And the major players are all on board, along with some you've likely never heard of because not everyone has a huge marketing budget. First it was ExpressVPN, and today NordVPN has announced its availability.

Whereas some companies tout a VPN's ability to let you watch content that's not available in your country — literally by routing your network traffic through another country — NordVPN is going with scare tactics in promoting its virtual private network on Apple TV.

Read more
Sling TV adds live scores and more for sports fans
Sling TV app icon on Apple TV.

Sling TV — the third-largest live streaming service in the U.S. — today announced a handful of new features that touch a wide swath of the Sling experience.

Here’s what users have to look forward to:

Read more
Sling TV is at its lowest number of subscribers in 5 years
Sling TV app icon on Apple TV.

We've written about how streaming video isn't a zero-sum game, despite all the headlines declaring that the Streaming Wars are in full swing. But that's not to say that churn — the act of a subscriber bailing — isn't very real. It is, and it's one of the main metrics streaming companies worry about.

This brings us to Sling TV. Parent company Dish just announced its first-quarter 2023 earnings and with it, new subscriber numbers for Sling TV. That gives us five full years of data — 21 total quarters. And that data is interesting for a couple of reasons.

Read more