When it comes to streaming options in the U.S., Sling TV plans and prices continue to keep it among the best live TV streaming services available. That’s largely because it’s as close as you can get to true a la carte TV, which theoretically lets you pick and choose your channels. Sling TV isn’t quite that — it’s more of a skinny bundle situation. But it’s still an extremely good value.
Here’s how it works: Sling TV is broken down into two tracks — Sling Orange and Sling Blue. Separately, they cost $35 a month each. Or you can get both for $50 a month. They have their own sets of channels, too. Sling Orange has 31 channels and is more sports-heavy. Sling Blue has 41 channels and is more focused on news and entertainment. The idea is that if you want one track more than the other, you can just get one. But Sling is perfectly happy if you get both. Note that buying both plans together gets you fewer channels than the math would indicate — that’s because there is some overlap.
The basic Sling TV price is $35 a month for Sling Orange or Sling Blue, or you can pay $50 for both. That’s the bare minimum, and it’s as inexpensive as it gets, given the number of channels involved. As of this writing, Sling is offering half off each plan for the first month. But while Sling has fewer channels out of the gate than its competitors, there are a number of Extras that you can tack on to expand your Sling experience.
Those Extras are bundles of additional channels that you can tack onto your Orange or Blue plan. They all come with an extra monthly fee, of course, so you’ll want to keep an eye on things before that $35-a-month bargain turns into a $100-a-month boondoggle. The Extras — which we detail below in the Sling channels section — range from $6 a month to $21 a month.
There are Premium channels available, too — again, for additional fees. Some are just single channels. Others — Showtime, for instance — include multiple channels for a single price. A sole premium channel may cost as low as $3 a month, while others range up to $10 a month.
And there are other additions to the service that can increase the price, and get it above and beyond its competitors. Do your homework. Keep an eye on what you’re spending.
Sling TV no longer has a standard free trial, which actually is different than most of its competitors. Instead, they offer a half-off deal on your first month. (That’s the sort of thing that’s likely to come and go, though, so don’t be surprised if you see something different. We’ll update if and when things change.)
Following are the channels available on the $35-a-month Sling Orange track. Channels that also are available on the Sling Blue track are noted in bold.
A&E, AMC, AXS TV, BBC America, BET, Bloomberg Television, Charge!, CNN, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Comet, Disney Channel, EPIX Drive-In, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, Food Network, Freeform, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Local Now, Motor Trend, Nick Jr., TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, Vice
These are the Extras available on the Sling Orange track with the monthly price, plus the channels you get:
Following are the channels available on the $35-a-month Sling Blue track. Channels that also are available on the Sling Orange track are noted in bold.
A&E, AMC, AXS TV, BBC America, BET, Bloomberg Television, Bravo, Charge!, CNN, Cartoon Network, Cheddar, Comedy Central, Comet, Discovery Channel, E!, EPIX Drive-In, Fox (Select Markets), FS1, FX, Food Network, Fox News, Fuse, HGTV, HLN, History Channel, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Local Now, MSNBC, NBC (Select Markets), NFL Network, National Geographic, Nick Jr., SYFY, TBS, TLC, TNT, Travel Channel, USA, Vice, truTV
These are the Extras available on the Sling Blue track, with the monthly price, and the channels you get:
In addition to the basic plans and Extras, Sling TV has a pretty healthy stable of premium channels available. There’s a monthly fee for each, of course, so you’ll need to mind what you’re spending. Here’s some of what’s available:
You can check out the entire list of 46 premium options on Sling’s website.
While Fox and NBC are available in select markets as part of Sling Blue, you basically need to go into Sling TV expecting to not have access to your local broadcast affiliates. That’s just the way it works.
You’ll find that Sling TV pushes something called AirTV, which really is just a broadcast tuner that you’ll connect to an over-the-air antenna. You can buy both as a bundle if you’d like. And this isn’t a horrible option, even though it’s not as simple as just being able to stream all your local channels as you can do on other services. It’s also an additional expense, plus the one-time hassle of setting everything up.
AirTV does, however, at least put those local channels straight into your on-screen Sling TV guide, so everything is in one place. That’s handy enough. It also does so over your home wireless network, so you can watch on all your devices with Sling, not just on your TV.
Sling TV comes with 50 hours of cloud-based storage for free, on any plan. It calls that “DVR Free.” That came in response to competitors offering better choices, and Sling charging extra for anything useful. It’s better than nothing, but still a far cry from YouTube TV’s free unlimited recording.
If 50 hours just isn’t enough, you can upgrade to “DVR Plus,” which gives you 200 hours for $5 a month.
Both options allow you to fast-forward through commercials, and you’re able to protect the recording from automatic deletion.
One other caveat is that you’re not able to record anything on ESPN3, ACC Network Extra, SEC Network+, or Local Now.
Sling TV also has a sizable number of international options, from all over the world. And we’re not just talking about the same options in different languages. These are separate packages that get you the best content from all over.
Options from India, for example, include Hindi, Urdu, Bangla, Punjabi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. There’s a separate package just for cricket, too. There also are video-on-demand services from Voot, Desi Binge, Sonyliv, MXONE, and Eros Now.
European options include French, German, Greek, Italian and Polish. East Asian fare includes Cantonese, Mandarin, and Taiwanese.
Sling TV is available on the best streaming devices around. That means devices like Roku and Amazon Fire TV, which make up the top two platforms in the world. You’re also able to watch Sling TV on Google TV and Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast and Nest Hub devices, and on a smattering of smart TVs from Vizio, Samsung, and LG.
And, of course, you can watch Sling TV on your phone, or in a web browser.
Sling TV also is available on Xbox Series S and Series X, on the Meta (formerly Oculus) VR platform, on TIVO Stream, and on Facebook Portal devices.
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