Earlier this month we noted how Disney and ESPN had sued Sling TV for the cardinal sin of actually trying to innovate. Sling TV’s offense: releasing new, more convenient day, weekend, or week-long shorter term streaming subscriptions that provided an affordable way to watch live television.

These mini-subscriptions, starting at around $5, have already proven to be pretty popular. But, of course, it challenges the traditional cable TV model of getting folks locked into recurring (and expensive) monthly subscriptions. Subscriptions that often mandate that you include sports programming many people simply don’t want to pay for.

So of course Time Warner has now filed a second lawsuit (sealed, 1:25-mc-00381) accusing Dish Network of breach of contract. In the complaint, Warner Bros lawyer David Yohai argues that this kind of convenience simply cannot be allowed:

“The passes fundamentally disrupt this industry-standard model by allowing customers to purchase access to the most sought-after programming, such as major sports events, essentially a la carte for a fraction of the cost that the consumer would have had to pay to watch the event on a pay-per-view basis. For example, a sports fan could simply purchase a day pass and watch select programming, such as a highly popular sports game, without purchasing a month-long subscription or paying a higher pay-per-view fee.”

Not disruption and convenience!

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[–] OozingPositron@feddit.cl 5 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

...access to the most sought-after programming, such as major sports events, essentially a la carte for a fraction of the cost..

KEK, this sounds like the best add ever for Sling TV.

[–] falseWhite@programming.dev 94 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"For example, a sports fan could simply purchase a day pass and watch select programming, such as a highly popular sports game, without purchasing a month-long subscription or paying a higher pay-per-view fee."

WOW. The greed is insane! What total pieces of sh*t! They're not even hiding it

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 26 points 1 day ago

To paraphrase:

"For example, someone could purchase a single sandwich, instead of a loaf of bread, several pounds of meat and cheese, various produce items, and a few jars of condiments."

Do they not see how dumb they sound!?

[–] chisel@piefed.social 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sling couldn't have asked for a better marketing campaign

[–] Zink@programming.dev 5 points 1 day ago

I was actually going to comment that I now know about this cheap option thanks to the lawsuit, lol.

I don't watch live TV because I value my time, but every once in a while there's a reason to tune into that one thing.

[–] JakenVeina@midwest.social 9 points 1 day ago

There's maybe a bit of an argument here if Sling is subsidizing their low prices with losses or debt or revenue from other projects. And let's be real here... that's absolutely what they're doing, cause that's what they ALL do. Offer services at unsustainable prices, in the hope of cornering a chunk of the market, and exploiting it for profit, later.

[–] DarthAstrius@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

[–] jason_is_back@tucson.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

⛵🌊

🎶Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me🎶

🎶We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot🎶

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 19 hours ago

We download and jailbreak and don't give a hoot

[–] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 58 points 1 day ago (2 children)

They're suing over the creation of competition in the market? Certainly an interesting strategy. I hope WB, Disney, and every other scum-sucker that thinks suing is acceptable gets raked across the coals.

[–] half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 day ago

Yeah, this sure sounds like the "free market" correcting itself as these people love to prattle on about.

[–] Fyrnyx@kbin.melroy.org 16 points 1 day ago

The only competition they want to have, is basically when they put their acquisitions against eachother like fighting with toy soldiers and see who can impress their corporate masters the most. It's sickening.

[–] MangioneDontMiss@feddit.nl 7 points 1 day ago

you know whats cheaper than sling? VPN!

[–] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 1 day ago

This is so petty and a perfect example of why american capitalism is horrible and the government does nothing to control corporations or monopolies.

[–] sfxrlz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 88 points 2 days ago

The quote is chefs kiss they’re not even trying to hide that shit. Imagine you could watch a sports event without getting virtually mugged

[–] november@piefed.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The passes fundamentally disrupt this industry-standard model by allowing customers to purchase access to the most sought-after programmin

Wait wait wait, I thought disruption was good? 🤔

[–] arararagi@ani.social 10 points 1 day ago

Only when Silicon Valley does it to someone else!

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 43 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The passes fundamentally disrupt this industry-standard model

Funny how they didn't care about how streaming in general disrupted cable. Or how cable disrupted broadcast. Or how tv disrupted radio ...

[–] antipiratgruppen@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

"Video Killed The Radio Star", even, was distributed in Canada and Brazil by WEA [Warner, Elektra, Atlantic], according to Discogs. Interesting!

EDIT: But wait for their next big release with a more aggressive tone: "Sling TV Pissed Off Conglomerates"...

[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com 49 points 2 days ago

This is basically mafia. Boycott them, people!

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 34 points 1 day ago (3 children)

i ask everyone i meet if they've accepted their lord and saviour jellyfin into their lives.

[–] chisel@piefed.social 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Wake me up when Jellyfin does live sports

[–] teft@piefed.social 8 points 1 day ago

It already does. Just google iptv on jellyfin and find one of the articles that teaches you how to load a .m3u into jellyfin. Boom live tv.

[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago

It's a little annoying to get going but it's doable.

[–] Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com 1 points 1 day ago

Jellyfin can use .m3u playlists for live TV. It’s a bit of work to get it going, but it is possible.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I pray to no false gods. But I do cherish Jellyfins daddy Emby. I would probably use Jellyfin but I have a lifelong emby paid from donating when they first took over MB.

[–] Cerothen@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

I too have lifetime Emby and still use it today. Media browser renamed to Emby. They took the M and B from the old name to get the new one.

[–] remon@ani.social 2 points 1 day ago

Wrong prophet but I like the religion.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So it's the lightbulb syndicate again eh?

[–] blueworld@piefed.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I always wonder why people venerate Edison so much. He did innovate, but man was he a shifty barron.

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Edison's lightbulb invention story makes for a really good rugged individual story. Dude keeps trying after 400 failures finally finds the one that worked and becomes rich and famous for it

[–] blueworld@piefed.world 2 points 19 hours ago

Ah yes, American exceptionalism. Silly me. Have to win as an underdog. If only we had education and learning history as part of our American ethos.

[–] FunctionallyLiterate@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 days ago

Normally I'd say Sling didn't have a prayer under this administration, but Disney has pissed everybody off - including the Grand Cheeto - so I'm just gonna go stock up on some popcorn...

[–] Fyrnyx@kbin.melroy.org 9 points 1 day ago

I expect them to come after Pluto and Tubi in the future...

We can't have nice things. Either those two get sued or outright bought.

Also, choke on a dick, Yohai, you fucktard.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Business idea: Get subscriptions to Disney and ESPN streaming services, then let other people buy access to those accounts for one day at a time. You'd log in for them and give them the session cookie, or something like that. Shouldn't be too hard to find a country in which that isn't breaking any laws, although I'm guessing it's probably not the USA.

[–] chisel@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's certainly breaking TOS, so the country you're in doesn't matter.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect that you may be overestimating the extent to which every piece of bullshit inserted into a TOS document that nobody reads is universally enforceable.

[–] chisel@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not a legal issue. They'd just shut down any accounts doing this. They already detect and shut down account sharing and this is just a variant of that. No law or government intervention necessary.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 3 points 1 day ago

One could make it technically somewhat difficult to shut down, but better yet would be to get some timely government intervention, on the side of defending our rights to do such things on the same kind of principle as the well-established doctrine of first sale.

[–] DFX4509B_2@lemmy.org 6 points 1 day ago

I wonder if these guys somehow have something to do with the DRM lockdown that ATSC 3 is trying to pull for OTA broadcast TV as well.