Viacom, Dish Deal Sees News Channels Coming To Sling TV

Sling TV gets a handful of new channels, while Dish won’t lose them

By Kris Wouk April 22, 2016

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Earlier this week, Dish customers were preparing to lose several channels including Comedy Central, BET, MTV, and more due to a breakdown in talks between the company and Viacom, owner of said channels. With the existing contract expiring at midnight on Wednesday and no new agreement in place, the blackout seemed inevitable.

Fortunately, the companies finally did reach an agreement, and announced it in a press release issued yesterday. Not only will the networks not be leaving Dish, but as the cherry on top, several Viacom networks will now be headed to Sling TV.

Comedy Central, BET, Spike, MTV, and Nick Jr. are among the channels on their way to the internet TV streaming service. A full list of channels hasn’t been provided, but according to the press release “many others” will be coming to Sling TV as well.

No specific packaging details have been announced so far, but the companies say that the channels will be available on Sling TV’s single-stream and multi-stream services. No concrete date has yet been announced, with the channels simply said to be arriving in the coming months.

A total of 18 Viacom channels have been renewed in the deal with Dish, though it seems that not all of these will be available via Sling TV, at least not at first. In addition to the channels listed above, these include Nickelodeon, VH1, CMT, TV Land, and Nicktoons.

This follows another recent addition of channels to Sling TV, though that one requires some extra thought. Earlier this month the streaming service introduced a second $20 bundle that includes Fox networks including Fox Sports. The catch is that in order to get these channels for the base price, users have to forgo ABC-owned channels including ESPN and Disney. If users want those extra channels, they can pay $40 for both, but that leaves them essentially paying twice for certain channels like AMC, CNN, and Cartoon Network/Adult Swim.

In the meantime, Sony’s PlayStation Vue finally became available nationwide last month, with a higher base price but a heftier channel selection. This increased competition might have lead Dish to push for the inclusion of Viacom channels in Sling TV. Whatever the case, this is good news for both Sling TV customers who have been longing for more channels and Dish customers who have been fearing losing them.

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