One day after introducing its new cable streaming TV service, Dish Network is making a new play for its rival’s customers.
A new Dish (DISH) campaign aimed at customers of satellite television provider DirecTV guarantees $250 in annual savings for those who switch to Dish.
Under the new promotion, DirecTV (DTV) customers can receive $250 in the form of a prepaid payment card if they switch to Dish in the next two months and don’t see at least $250 in annual savings during their first year of service, the company said. The promotional campaign, which asks DirecTV customers “Why pay more?”, runs through April 8.
Dish is announcing the offer at the same time as it rolls out its high-profile new streaming television service, Sling TV, which launched Monday. The the service targets cable cord-cutters by offering live, streaming television programming — with a handful of channels including ABC, CNN, TNT and ESPN — for $20 per month. Dish also said Monday that it reached a deal to add AMC to its core list of Sling TV channels. The inclusion of ESPN, especially, made Sling TV big news for cord-cutters because the sports broadcasting giant’s channels had not previously been available without cable subscriptions.
While Sling TV may convince some cable holdouts to cut the cord in favor of streaming content, Dish’s “Why pay more?” campaign looks to add more satellite television customers to the company’s subscriber base. In order to accomplish the latter, Dish will try to siphon customers away from its largest rival. DirecTV is the largest satellite TV company in the U.S., with more than 20 million subscribers, while Dish comes in second with roughly 14 million.