It seems Sprint has its eye on bundle deals a la its major competitors AT&T and Verizon – but with a twist.
The wireless carrier is currently offering a discount on Sling TV when customers bundle it with their wireless service. In particular, Sprint’s offer includes Sling Orange for $17 per month, Sling Blue for $22 per month, and Sling Blue and Orange for $37 per month with Sprint’s Unlimited or any other phone plan. Those same services go for $0 per month, $5 per month, and $20 per month, respectively, when customers have an Unlimited Freedom Plan with four or more lines. Sling’s “Best of Spanish” package is available for $10 per month with any plan, and $0 per month on Unlimited Freedom with four or more lines.
Sling Orange includes 30+ channels, while Sling Blue includes 40+ channels. The deal is currently available to customers in Atlanta and Chicago. Existing Sling customers can also take advantage of the deal to save a few extra dollars.
The promotion, which has been running since the end of January, was first pointed out by Jeff Moore of Wave 7 Research on Twitter.
Sprint could not immediately be reached for comment.
According to the carrier’s FAQ page, customers who pick up Sling will be able to stream live TV over the internet on their TV, laptop, tablet, or phone. Sling Orange can be streamed on one device at a time, while Sling Blue supports up to three simultaneous streams. The combo package allows for one stream on Sling Orange and three on Sling Blue, the carrier said.
The move follows AT&T’s introduction of DirecTV Now back in the fall and comes amid a growing content war in the wireless space. But rather than acquiring its own content – as AT&T has done with DirecTV and Time Warner and Verizon has sought to do with its own acquisitions – it appears Sprint is going the partnership route to achieve the same end. The strategy is faintly reminiscent (though really more a hybrid approach) of T-Mobile’s Binge On initiative, where the Un-carrier sought to bring content to its users without actually buying up the providers.
And this isn’t Sprint’s only recent content move.
Back in January, Sprint also acquired part of Jay-Z’s Tidal music streaming service.
At the time, CEO Marcelo Claure touted the decision as one that would “offer new and existing customers access to exclusive content and entertainment experiences in a way no other service can.”