Sling TV now costs $40 a month, the fourth price hike in five years

If you’re paying Dish to stream live TV channels over the internet, prepare for a higher bill yet again: the company’s Sling TV streaming service is raising prices by $5 a month for the fourth time in five years. Sling Orange and Sling Blue pay TV packages will now cost $40 a month each — up from $35 previously — and you’ll pay $55 for the package with both Orange and Blue.

Existing subscribers should see the price increases on the first bill they get after December 3rd; new customers will have to pay the higher rate starting today.

Below, find a quick chart I whipped up with the history of Sling TV’s price hikes; notably, the company promised not to raise prices in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, and it kept that promise. But monthly prices have gone up $5 per year practically every other year since its debut, and you’ll have to decide if its increasing list of channels and features is worth the ever-increasing cost. (I pay for my father-in-law’s Sling subscription, so we’ll be having a chat this month.)

Sling TV is far from alone in raising prices to such a degree, of course. Most streaming services have done something similar. As one example, Netflix’s prices have also nearly doubled since day one — more than doubled if you stream in 4K. Though you do now have the option of an ad-supported Netflix tier that, at $6.99 per month, costs less than the 2011 original.