News Releases
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Jan. 4, 2023 – SLING TV today announces a historic deal with Sun Group, the top-rated South Indian broadcaster, that brings 11 of its channels to U.S. audiences for the first time. With the addition of the new channels, SLING is the only U.S. television provider with a total of 19 Sun Group channels, which are available on SLING TV through two new pack options - Dakshin Basic and Dakshin Mega.
The partnership provides viewers across the South Asian diaspora living in the U.S. with upgraded versions of the eight existing Sun channels that SLING offers, alongside the 11 new channels. As a result, SLING customers will have access to a vastly expanded offering of top-rated series and reality shows, blockbuster movies, comedies, music videos and news in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. With the introduction of the Dakshin and Dakshin Mega packs, SLING subscribers will have an array of on-demand and live content in all four languages in one place.
“We’re incredibly proud to announce this major expansion for SLING’s South Asian offering,” said Liz Riemersma, Vice President of Programming, SLING International. “Sling is committed to connecting our International customers to the content they love from home. Our partnership with Sun Group underlines that commitment by providing customers more great content in comprehensive new packs.”
“We’re very excited about our partnership with SLING TV, a dominant name in the OTT market of the U.S.,” said R Mahesh Kumar, MD & CEO of Sun TV Network Ltd. “With the upgrades to the channels Sling currently carries, and the introduction of 11 more new channels, our target audiences will now have easier access to the full range of our premium programming from India.”
Along with Sun’s flagship channels, subscribers to Dakshin and Dakshin Mega packs now have access to 11 Sun Group channels that are new and only on SLING, including Gemini Life, Sun Life, Sun News, Udaya Movies, and genre-specific comedy and music channels from Surya, Gemini, and Udaya. In addition to these offerings, customers also have access to Simply South’s entire on-demand library of more than 1,000 South Indian movies, and popular cricket channels Willow and Willow Xtra.
Dakshin is available for only $20/month or $120 for the annual pack. For only $5 more per month, at $25/month or $200 for the annual pack, the Dakshin MEGA pack offers everything in the base Dakshin pack, plus more channels and unrestricted access to VOOT’s on-demand library of hit shows.
To learn more about the Dakshin and Dakshin Mega packs, please visit https://www.sling.com/international/desi-tv/dakshin.
About Sun Group
Sun Group is a Chennai based media & entertainment conglomerate with interests in TV and FM radio broadcast, direct to home satellite telecast, publishing and professional sports. The flagship company of the Group is Sun TV Network Ltd which holds a dominant position in regional language programming through its 33 TV channels that beam content in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi. Sun TV Network Ltd also holds investments in subsidiaries that operate the country’s second largest network of 69 FM Radio stations spread all over India, besides owning two T20 cricket franchises, one in the Indian Premier League and the other in South Africa. Sun Direct TV Private Ltd, the DTH arm of the Sun Group, is the fastest growing player in the industry and counts over 12 million subscribers in India. KAL Publications P Ltd, publishes two newspapers and four weekly magazines, all in Tamil.
About SLING TV
SLING TV is an Emmy® Award-winning live streaming TV service that provides more than 800 channels from today's most popular networks across its general market, Latino and international services. It is available on all major streaming devices, smart televisions, tablets, game consoles, computers and smartphones. SLING TV offers two general market streaming services, SLING Orange and SLING Blue, that collectively feature content from Disney/ESPN, Fox, NBC, AMC, A&E, AXS, Discovery, Scripps, Turner, Viacom, NBA TV, NFL Network, NHL Network, Pac-12 Networks, GSN, Hallmark, SHOWTIME, STARZ and EPIX. SLING TV offers customers access to free content, à la carte channels and services, plus Pay-Per-View events and movies on-demand. SLING TV provides a suite of à la carte and add-on Spanish-language services and packages tailored to English-dominant, bilingual and Spanish-dominant U.S. households. SLING TV is the leading U.S. provider of foreign-language programming, with more than 300 channels in over 20 languages. Additionally, SLING TV offers a variety of local channel solutions through the AirTV brand, which provides products and services that simplify the modern over-the-air (OTA) entertainment experience. Visit sling.com and AirTV.net for more information. SLING TV L.L.C. and AirTV L.L.C. are wholly owned subsidiaries of DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH).