Sling TV looks to go national with new ad campaign

Dish Network is about to make a major push for Sling TV, its Internet-based TV service.

Sling is launching its first nationwide TV ad campaign, and its putting cable subscribers squarely in its sights.

Featuring Danny Trejo, the spots are meant to push people to act on their biggest gripes about traditional cable packages.

The campaign is a major step for Sling. Launched in January 2015, the program was at first seen with plenty of skepticism.

Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch remembered those early days, when Dish had to use its primary satellite business to persuade companies like Disney and Turner to include popular cable channels such as ESPN and TNT.

At the time, ESPN reportedly had an out clause in its agreement that would let it back out of the service if it grew too popular, a clause meant to make sure the sports channel didn't lose too many valuable cable subscribers to the service.

Those worries now seem quaint.

"The world has changed so much in 18 months," Lynch told Mashable. "The industry was in denial about cord cutting."

That denial is giving way to a broad realization that while the cable industry's decline might not happen in a matter of months or even years, it is firmly on the horizon. Research from SNL Kagan found that 812,000 subscribers ditched traditional pay TV in the second quarter of the year.

With programmers looking for new ways to reach consumers, Sling TV has been steadily adding new partners and options. In June, Sling added NBC and its various channels, and struck a deal to bring its service to Apple TV.

The same study estimated Sling at 764,000 customers. Sling still isn't talking about how many subscribers they have.

Lynch said that these numbers have changed how the industry is treating Internet-based options. When asked about ESPN's deal, he said that the tables have now turned.

Programmers are now telling Dish that they want to be on Sling as part of their deal to be on satellite.

"Since then, the only thing that they've seen is that we've grown their business. And so we don't hear from any programmer that hey want us to slow down. The only thing we hear is 'how can we help you to grow faster?'"

Hitting the accelerators on Sling makes particular sense in the grand scheme of Dish Network, the satellite TV company that was among the first to compete with cable providers. Dish has been battling the same customer attrition as much of the pay TV industry, having posted its worst quarter ever earlier this year in terms of subscriber loss.

When Sling launched, it had the advantage of being the first Internet-delivered skinny TV bundle that featured live programming as well as on-demand capability. That window is now closing.

Most notably, Hulu is preparing its live TV package for launch. That could be a particularly challenging competitor, as Hulu is backed by the companies that provide a lot of the programming on Sling including 21st Century Fox, Disney and Time Warner.

Lynch isn't too scared. He sees most of the options that are coming out as a recreation of the big bundles that consumers have grown tired of.

For now, Sling's focus is adding customers, Lynch said, with a service that has flexibility of choice that its competitors aren't offering.

"Time will tell which one is better," Lynch said. "I prefer our strategy because it goes after what consumer's interests are."