Sling TV Brings Cryptocurrency to Pay TV
With some notable exceptions, Sling TV subscribers can now play monthly fees with BitPay and cryptocurrencies
ENGLEWOOD, Co.—Sling TV has begun allowing subscribers to pay for their monthly subscriptions with BitPay and cryptocurrencies.
BitPay is one of the largest global blockchain payment providers, and is the cryptocurrency payment processor for Sling.
“It doesn't matter where you buy, store, spend or swap your cryptocurrency, BitPay supports more than 90 different crypto wallet applications to make paying with crypto more convenient,” Sling TV’s support page for using cryptocurrencies explained.
But the use of cryptocurrencies for the streaming pay TV platform has some notable limits.
Using BitPay, Sling TV customers can only make one time, manual payments and currently there is no recurring payment option for BitPay.
Subscribers have a choice of prepaying for one to six months at a time with BitPay. But, once the prepaid period ends, the subscription will be billed to the payment method on file, usually a credit or debit card, unless the user chooses to manually prepay using BitPay again. There are also no refunds for prepaid subscriptions, Sling said.
Moreover, BitPay cannot be used for or during promotional offers such as prepay device bundles, and can not be used towards the payment of a past due balance. Past due balances must be brought current using a credit/debit card before being able to use BitPay to prepay for services.
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Accounts currently on pause cannot use BitPay to restart and BitPay cannot be used for PPV, TVOD or video rental purchases, Sling said.
George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.