Dish Network, the No. 2 satellite TV service in the U.S., announced that DishWorld, its live-streaming, multilanguage TV service launched in 2012, will be be rebranded “Sling International.”
The move aligns Dish’s international over-the-top service with Sling TV, the OTT pay-TV service the satcaster launched this year in the States with a skinnied-down package of channels. Sling International provides global programming from almost 200 channels in 18 languages to U.S. consumers, starting at $15 per month.
“Sling TV grew from the foundation established by DishWorld, enabling us to test, grow and improve our OTT capabilities through a service that streams tens of millions of hours of content every month,” Roger Lynch, CEO of Dish’s Sling TV unit, said in a statement. “Incorporating DishWorld into the Sling TV portfolio makes it even easier for viewers to get the best of both domestic programming and the shows and sports they love from overseas.”
Dish in February launched Sling TV, which starts at $20 per month for 20 cable channels, including ESPN, AMC and TNT (but excluding broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC). This week, the company announced a pact with Time Warner Inc. that allows Sling TV to offer HBO for an additional $15 monthly, the same price as the standalone HBO Now service available on Apple TV. Cablevision also will offer HBO Now to broadband-only subs, with pricing yet to be announced.
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Existing DishWorld customers will be prompted at login to upgrade to the new Sling International app. The company said the new app features a redesigned user interface that’s more intuitive and easier to use than the previous DishWorld service.
Customers will be able to sign in to their Sling International accounts using all devices that support Sling TV, including Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick; current-generation Roku players and Roku TV models; Android and iOS devices; Microsoft’s Xbox One videogame console; and Macs and PCs. However, DishWorld customers who use Samsung Smart TVs will continue using the DishWorld app; support for Sling International on select Samsung televisions will become available in the next few weeks.
Sling International (née DishWorld) offers nearly 200 channels in languages including Arabic, Bangla, Brazilian, Cantonese, Filipino, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Mandarin, Punjabi, Taiwanese, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Vietnamese. New language groups launching include Bengali, Kannada and Marathi. Sling International customers who subscribe to “Family View” (priced at an additional $5 monthly per stream, for up to three concurrent streams) will be able to access the service on up to three devices simultaneously.
