Does Dish's Sling TV offer better value than cable? Comcast says not really

Tom Paine

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Think OTT (Over the top) offerings such as Dish's newly announced Sling TV will offer better value? Well, Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit tried to rebut that notion while speaking at the Citi 2015 Global Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas this week, as quoted by the Hollywood Reporter:

"Reading about Sling TV, I was comparing it to what an equivalent offer would be for us," he said. "We offer a performance-based broadband product along with a digital television selection, which includes ESPN and all the broadcast networks, for a ... price of about $80. If you were to compare that to the $20 of the Dish [over-the-top service] plus our ... pricing of performance broadband at about $67, we are actually a lower-priced offer all-in, offering broadcast, multiple streams, a fundamentally, I think, better product if you include the broadband you are going to need to [get] the service."

So in other words, there is no free lunch and no better alternative to your local cable company?

Smit did say that pay TV and video providers will engage in "more experimentation" to target younger people and the financially conscious, citing Comcast's own "Internet Plus" service that launched in 2013.

But MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said that "this product (Sling TV) will find a niche and that its pricing will be genuinely disruptive", though he doesn't expect it to take the world by storm.