https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b.../warner-bros-discovery-espn-sling-1236458289/
What’s a “Subscription?” Warner Bros. Discovery and ESPN Find Out the Hard Way
Dish Network leveraged ambiguity around the term in licensing deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney to offer short-term Sling TV subscription passes.
by Winston Cho
December 23, 2025 - 1:00pm PST
A court has denied Warner Bros. Discovery’s bid to block Dish Network’s
Sling TV from selling a suite of short-term offerings that allow users to sign up for as little as one day at a fraction of the full monthly subscription cost. The ruling, issued on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, swung on what exactly a “subscription” means under the contracts and is the second in favor of Dish allowing it to continue offering the first-of-its-kind packages.
In August, Sling TV rolled out day, weekend and week passes, which don’t require subscriptions, that give viewers access to its bundle for as little as $4.99 and has popular networks like TNT, CNN and ESPN, among several others. In response, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney filed breach of contract lawsuits accusing Dish of violating the terms of their licensing agreements.
At the heart of the dispute: the possibility of short-term offerings, like the one rolled out by Dish, undercutting studios’ longstanding business model, which is dependent on regularly recurring monthly subscriptions.
