Sling TV is the best alternative to cable TV
How many times have you thought about ditching cable because you only watched a small fraction of what you were paying for. Sling TV doesn’t provide true Ala cart, but Sling does provide a trimmed down TV package including many of the most popular channels with several viewing options including PC, tablets and phones, streaming media devices and gaming consoles.
Most tech-savvy users are familiar with SlingBox by Sling Media, owned by Dish. Slingbox is a great way to access your cable box or DVR from anywhere in your house or around the world. Not too many yet know about Sling TV, the latest offering from Dish allowing users to ditch cable and save a small fortune.
Base Package
Sports, news and entertainment are all covered, albeit without the redundancy of what you may be used to with cable. Programming is geared to sports enthusiasts, women, kids and even me. It seemed like when I was ready to cut the cord it came down to two channels, ESPN and HGTV. I could get by without most of the others as there are similar antenna offerings that I could turn to. ESPN and HGTV are part of the current basic 23 channel lineup, but take a look at the list to see if your favorites are included or maybe part of the add-on packages.
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Add-On Packages
Add-on packages offer more of the feel of regular cable, a package of similar channels that don’t give you the bang for your buck that the base package has, but if you need that one extra channel, Sling is counting on you to ante up, just like regular cable does.
HBO Package ($15 / month)
The HBO Package costs about the same as it would be with cable, but does offer on demand as well as live streaming. If you are someone who hangs on to cable because they can’t get by without some of your favorite HBO series, this will be well worth it.
$5 Packages
Sports Extra
World News Extra
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Kids Extra
Hollywood Extra
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Lifestyle Extra
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Sling TV also offers a wide assortment of Spanish language programming in $5 and $7 packages. You can take a look at their site for specific offerings. The add-ons can quickly add up, so make sure you aren’t getting back to where you started from – paying too much to watch TV.
Including network broadcast channels has been mentioned, but Sling says it doesn’t want to add to the cost of their basic service, at least not yet. The addition of the broadcast channels might be a possibility down the road sometime. For those that need broadcast channels, don’t let it stop you. Most Americans live close enough to broadcast towers to pull in a quality network signal and most network shows are available online anyway.
Live, On Demand and Replay
The on demand feature is hard to find when searching the Sling TV site, but it is there. Users can’t fast foward their on demand video and only some channels offer the ability to pause or rewind. Although Sling TV offers an on demand library it isn’t extensive for most channels that have it. It is also very inconsistent. Some shows offer multiple seasons while others may provide only an episode or two. I know Sling TV is still getting it’s legs, but these inconveniences will not sit well with binge watchers.
The replay option is different than on demand. You will have a limited window to watch your favorite shows. 3 days for most channels that offer this feature, but up to 7 or 8 days for other channels. Half the channels in the basic package offer the replay option with all of those plus a few more offering on demand. Most of the add-on packages offer both on-demand and replay options. Sling says it will be offering on demand for all their channels in the future.
Quality/Design
Video quality is usually quite good, if you have a good connection speed. Quality will suffer greatly if your Internet connection is slow, similar to how the quality suffers with SlingBox users. I have not noticed lags or choppy video while watching Sling TV, but there are several users who have commented that they can’t
always get a good consistent feed or their video will freeze and they need to restart.
The design is clean, but not very intuitive or easy to navigate, especially on the Roku app. Roku’s remote only has a few buttons, something my mother loves. However, that doesn’t work so well when all you want to do is type in a channel number and go to your channel. My experience has been better on a PC as there are a few more options to use to get around.
Try before you buy
Sling TV offers a week trial membership, you will need to provide an email address and a credit card, but the card won’t be charged until your trial membership runs out. You can cancel online or by calling Sling. ESPN watchers in particular have cried foul over their inability to get a good feed for Monday Night Football. If that is as important to you as it is me, get your trial during the season and check it out for yourself along with all the other channels you know you want to watch.
How to Watch
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Shop for Sling TV Media Players
Take a look at current pricing on a few of the most popular Sling TV media players.
| Roku Stick | Roku 3 | Amazon Fire TV | Amazon Fire Stick |
Final Thoughts
It would be great if Sling had more offerings to watch on demand and the idea of only one user being able to watch at one time is a little annoying too. Sling TV doesn’t offer a ton of channels in their base package, they do offer many of the most popular ones for a rock bottom price of $20 a month. When the bottom line
is important, you might want to give Sling a call to ask about your total price as taxes seem to vary by state. Some users report no sales tax while others, in Florida for example, pay $3.00 or 15% tax.
Connection speeds will make user reviews vary wildly, so we suggest you try it for yourself. The initial 7 days is on Sling, and even if you aren’t sure Sling TV is for you, Sling is a month-to-month service, so you aren’t tied down if you don’t like it for any reason. Sling TV is a great low cost alternative to cable TV and if if takes off, more competition and viewer offerings should be on the way.
