Media companies are not sitting idly as Sling TV introduces its “Day Pass” feature for customers.
Warner Bros. Discovery has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Sling TV parent company Dish Network over its new “Day Pass” products, per Winston Cho of The Hollywood Reporter. The suit alleges the offering breaches the terms of its distribution contract.
Last month, Sling unveiled numerous short-term subscriptions that allowed customers to purchase packages, which include channels like TNT and ESPN, for as little as 24 hours and for prices as cheap as $4.99. The company marketed the packages directly at sports fans, suggesting that the offerings were perfect for customers who wanted to catch a single game or event without committing to a longer-term cable or streaming subscription.
Just two weeks later, Disney sued, alleging a breach of contract. Warner Bros. Discovery has now followed suit.
“While we value our partnership with Dish, this program violates the terms of our agreement,” a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson told THR in a statement. “We hope this issue is quickly and amicably resolved.”
Per the report, other distributors had reached out to Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery about launching short-term packages of their own after Sling launched its “Day Pass.”
Sling’s offerings upend entirely the industry standard for distribution deals. Typically, companies like Warner Bros. Discovery negotiate a monthly per-subscriber fee for each of its channels with distributors like Sling. By the sounds of Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney’s legal arguments, their current agreements with Sling do not allow the distributor to pro-rate that monthly fee for short-term subscribers.
Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney would be the two primary media companies impacted by Sling’s “Day Pass” subscription. The short-term offerings are only available for the Sling Orange package, which does not include any NBC or Fox-owned channels.
For now, the product is still available for purchase on Sling’s website despite the lawsuits.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.