Pros
Solid collection of channels for the worth
Numerous decisions and add-ons
Optional AirTV tuner for native channels
Plenty of 4K choices at no further price
Cons
No CBS; ABC, NBC and Fox solely supplied in a number of cities
Package choices will be complicated
Additional price for Unlimited DVR
Sling TV is among the greatest (and most reasonably priced) streaming providers for these trying to lower cable. Live TV streaming providers, coupled with a streaming machine or good TV, are nice methods to interchange your cable TV subscription at a decrease price, whereas nonetheless watching the reside channels you like. Yet for the budget-conscious TV viewer, not all providers are created equal. For occasion, YouTube TV affords a variety of channels, nevertheless it prices twice as a lot because the cord-cutter-friendly Sling TV, and virtually as a lot as cable. Starting at $46, Sling TV affords a superb worth with a variety of channels accessible, with the one downside being that native channels are restricted. Yet, there is a repair for that. Sling TV differs from its rivals in that it affords two predominant plans for a similar $46 entry worth: Sling Orange and Sling Blue. They share various channels (like CNN, History and TNT), however others are unique to 1 or the opposite. Sling TV Blue is actually the Fox and NBC choice, whereas Sling Orange is the ESPN and Disney bundle. The greatest draw back to each is that in order for you a full slate of native channels — particularly your native ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC stations — you may have to enhance Sling TV with an over-the-air antenna or the $150 AirTV 2 DVR (which is at present $49 while you prepay for 3 months). Meanwhile, dearer options reminiscent of Hulu Plus Live TV do supply native channels with no antenna required.When Sling TV elevated the worth on its two predominant packages from $40 to $46 in December 2024, one of many carrots dangled in entrance of paid subscribers was entry to the video games Pac-Man, Trivia Crack, Dots, Wordleful and Haunted Castle as a part of its Arcade characteristic. Despite its lack of native channels, Sling TV stays my favourite reasonably priced reside TV streamer for the cash, and the Blue plan specifically is a good deal. Even with yet one more worth bump, you’ll be able to nonetheless lower your expenses in comparison with cable, and Sling TV Blue stays the CNET Editors’ Choice as one of the best price range reside TV streaming service.Read extra: YouTube TV vs. Sling TV: Which Live TV Streaming Service Is Best for You?What is Sling TV, anyway? The Sling TV house web page because it seems on Google Chrome. Screenshot by Aaron Pruner/CNETSling TV is a subscription service that permits you to stream a collection of reside TV channels over the web. The channels supplied by Sling are just like these present in cable and satellite tv for pc TV, however Sling has fewer of them, which implies it prices much less monthly. You can watch Sling TV on televisions utilizing the Sling TV app on media streamers (like Roku and Amazon Fire TV), good TV programs (like Google TV, LG and Samsung) and recreation consoles (Xbox Series S and X), in addition to on telephones, tablets and computer systems, with no cable field required. It includes a built-in DVR with 50 hours of storage, and customers can improve to limitless hours for $5 monthly.Sling TV was the primary of its type when it debuted in 2016, nevertheless it now has a bunch of rivals at completely different costs, together with Hulu Plus Live TV, YouTube TV, DirecTV, Philo and Fubo. For ease of categorization, I’ve separated these providers into price range ($46 and underneath) and premium (over $50) providers. Sling TV can nonetheless be thought-about a price range service, alongside the $33 Philo.Sling TV interface The Sling TV cellular app homepage. Screenshot by Aaron Pruner/CNETOf the 2 $46 tiers, I consider Sling Blue affords one of the best deal for most individuals. It has extra channels than Orange and permits as much as three folks to look at completely different streams concurrently, whereas Sling Orange solely permits one stream at a time. You can mix the 2 Blue and Orange providers for $61 a month, however you are solely getting 5 extra “top” channels than Blue (though this does embrace ESPN and ESPN2). If you are focused on extra channels and do not thoughts paying a bunch extra, rivals like Fubo ($85) and YouTube TV ($83) are higher choices, as they provide considerably extra channels (together with native ones) and limitless DVRs (versus Sling TV’s 50 hours).Sling is among the solely reside TV providers — alongside DirecTV’s style packs — to supply a bunch of add-on channel packages. You pays $5, $6 or $11 month-to-month for packages reminiscent of Sports Extra, Comedy Extra, Hollywood Extra, The Best of Spanish TV and extra. The channels in every bundle differ relying on whether or not you could have Blue or Orange, and a few channels (like Animal Planet and Nickelodeon) are lacking utterly. However, between its Extras and a number of base packages, Sling affords extra methods to customise your channel lineup than any of its rivals.If you are focused on an much more budget-friendly choice than those I’ve already outlined, there’s the service’s not too long ago added Sling Select plan. It prices $20 a month and comes with a curated collection of channels, which embrace FX, NFL Network and Game Show Network, amongst others. You nonetheless obtain 50 hours of cloud DVR storage and are permitted three simultaneous streams with this bundle. Depending on the place you reside, you’ll be able to entry native NBC, ABC and Fox associates. However, it is value noting that you will be charged a further $5 month-to-month when you go for one or two, whereas entry to all three prices $10 extra.If you are still focused on Sling however aren’t the sort to decide to a typical plan, Sling now affords Day Pass, which does precisely what it sounds prefer it does. For $5, you may get a day-long subscription to the service. In the identical vein, you’ll be able to select a Weekend Pass for $10 or a Week Pass for $15, relying in your desire. Then there’s Sling Freestream. The service’s no-cost choice comes with over 500 primarily FAST channels together with a sturdy collection of on-demand programming. You entry Freestream through the common Sling TV app and, when you do not want an account to make use of this characteristic, when you join a free one, you may get 10 hours of free cloud DVR storage. Here’s the Sling TV information web page because it seems on the good TV app. Aaron Pruner/CNETCheck out the chart on the finish of this text for all the prime 100 channels Sling’s quite a few providers supply. It’s a condensed model of our full listing of the Top 100 channels supplied by each service.Sling stays cheap by eschewing most native channels. The Blue bundle has ABC, Fox and/or NBC in a handful of main cities however would not embrace any CBS stations. The Orange bundle affords no native channels, interval. As any cord-cutter is aware of, native channels are additionally accessible by connecting an HD antenna to the again of your tv. Sling TV affords another choice, nevertheless: the AirTV collection of over-the-air streamers. The AirTVs hook up with an antenna and your community, and stream any native channels you obtain into the Sling TV interface, integrating them proper into Sling’s program information and different areas. You can even join an exterior onerous drive to the AirTV to document and watch over-the-air channels, that are separate from the 50-hour cloud TV storage, although they seamlessly combine with different streaming channels. Other OTA DVRs are additionally accessible, though none of them combine with Sling’s interface. The $150 AirTV 2 is designed to complement lacking native channels. Sarah Tew/CNETWhether you employ an AirTV or not, Sling features a cloud DVR totally free that permits you to document virtually any streaming channel on the service (the one exceptions are Local Now, ESPN3, ACC Network Extra and SEC Network Plus). It comes with 50 hours of storage, however the free model would not assist you to defend your recorded exhibits. You should pay a further $5 monthly for limitless storage hours and the flexibility to forestall recordings from being robotically erased.What’s Sling TV like to make use of? Sling TV is offered on most good TV platforms. Aaron Pruner/CNETThe menu system now seems and capabilities extra easily than it did beforehand. Depending on the way you entry it, on a TV or cellphone, as an example, your content material will seem organized horizontally on the left-hand facet of the display screen or on the prime. The service’s menu has now been whittled right down to Search, Home, Guide DVR and On-Demand. I discovered that with the a number of discovery screens, together with the principle Home display screen, there was loads of programming accessible, particularly once I did not know what I used to be within the temper for.In addition to its upgraded cloud DVR, Sling now permits you to document and live-pause channels, together with Disney and ESPN, that are bundled with the Orange packages. There’s additionally its…Integration with AirTV You can remote-stream native channels from the AirTV 2 on an iPhone. Screenshot by Ty Pendlebury/CNETWhile they are not essentially the most elegant OTA options I’ve seen, the AirTV 2 and higher-end AirTV Anywhere are nonetheless stable choices for integrating native channels into Sling TV. They will let customers tune in to all the accessible channels within the space, and in my very own checks in New York, I used to be capable of view and document 75-plus completely different stations. While the AirTV Anywhere options 4 tuners and an built-in 1-terabyte drive, the AirTV 2 requires a suitable exterior onerous drive to perform as a DVR. The firm says, “Hard drives must be larger than 50GB, AirTV 2 currently supports recording up to 2TB of storage for DVR.” During my checks with the AirTV 2, I used to be unable to pause reside TV, although I used to be capable of document. In my newer checks, nevertheless, I have not discovered an exterior drive that permits me to document in any respect, though I can no less than view the native channels once I browse them in my information. In comparability, the AirTV Anywhere ought to allow you to freeze reside TV for as much as 60 minutes.The AirTV recorders used to have two limitations which have since been fastened: They did not work with an Apple TV or through an online browser (like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari). Now, they’re suitable with each, and you can entry your recordings and think about the OTA channels you need to watch.The tuner is suitable with the Sling TV app, Roku units, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, iOS or Android, Apple TV, or through the AirTV Mini or AirTV participant.Also, bear in mind that the AirTV cannot document streaming channels, solely native ones, and due to this fact you are still restricted to both the 50-hour or limitless (with the DVR Plus improve) recording instances.You can now entry the AirTV from throughout the Sling TV app’s settings, which is labeled Over-the-Air Channels. There is not any must obtain a separate app.Should you subscribe to Sling TV? Screenshot by Aaron Pruner/CNETWhile it can save you some cash with Philo ($33), it’s positively value spending a bit extra on Sling TV Blue. The improve to the DVR alone makes even the current $5 upcharge appear justified, particularly when different rivals price virtually twice as a lot. The expertise is healthier than Philo total; it is zippier and it affords extra channels. It’s not good, nevertheless it’s bettering as a cable alternative, and it ought to prevent a major amount of cash in the long run. The chart under compares the prime 100 channels on Sling to its two price range rivals and YouTube TV. “Yes” means the channel is offered on the most cost effective pricing tier, “No” means the channel is not accessible in any respect on that service and “$” means the channel is offered for an additional price, both a la carte or as a part of a dearer bundle or add-on.Top 100 channels ChannelPhilo ($33)Sling Orange ($46)Sling Blue ($46)YouTube TV ($83)Hulu with Live TV ($83)Fubo ($85)DirecTV ($90) Total channels: 43253578754756ABC NoNoNoYesYesYesYesCBS NoNoNoYesYesYesYesFox NoNoYesYesYesYesYesNBC NoNoYes (some markets)YesYesYesYesPBS NoNoNoYesYesNoYesCW NoNoNoYesYesYesYes (restricted)MyNetworkTV NoNoNoYesYesNoYesChannelPhilo ($33)Sling Orange ($46)Sling Blue ($46)YouTube TV ($83)Hulu with Live TV ($83)Fubo ($85)DirecTV ($90)A&E YesYesYesNoYesNo$ACC Network No$NoYesYesYes$Accuweather YesNoNoNoNoYesYesAMC YesYesYesYesNoNoYesAnimal Planet YesNoNoYesYesNoYesBBC America YesYesYesYesNoNoYesBBC World News Yes$$YesNoNo$BET YesYesYesYesYesYesYesHuge Ten Network NoNo$YesYesYes$Bloomberg TV NoYesYesNoYesYesYesBoomerang No$$No$NoYesBravo NoNoYesYesYesYesYesChannelPhilo ($33)Sling Orange ($46)Sling Blue ($46)YouTube TV ($83)Hulu with Live TV ($83)Fubo ($85)DirecTV ($90)Cartoon Network NoYesYesYesYesNoYesCBS Sports Network NoNoNoYesYesYes$Cheddar YesNoNoYesYesYesYesCinemax NoNoNo$$No$CMT Yes$$YesYesYesYesCNBC NoNo$YesYesYesYesCNN NoYesYesYesYesNoYesComedy Central YesYesYesYesYesYesYesCooking Channel Yes$$No$$$Destination America Yes$$No$$$Discovery Channel YesNoYesYesYesNoYesDisney Channel NoYesNoYesYesYesYesDisney Junior No$NoYesYesYesYesDisney XD No$NoYesYesYesYesE! NoNoYesYesYesYesYesESPN NoYesNoYesYesYesYesESPN 2 NoYesNoYesYesYesYesESPNEWS No$NoYesYes$$ESPNU No$NoYesYes$$ChannelPhilo ($33)Sling Orange ($46)Sling Blue ($46)YouTube TV ($83)Hulu with Live TV ($83)Fubo ($85)DirecTV ($90)Food Network YesYesYesYesYesNoYesFox Business NoNo$YesYesYesYesFox News NoNoYesYesYesYesYesFS1 NoNoYesYesYesYesYesFS2 NoNo$YesYesYes$Freeform NoYesNoYesYesYesYesFX NoNoYesYesYesYesYesFX Movies NoNo$YesYes$$FXX NoNo$YesYesYesYesFYI Yes$$NoYesNo$Golf Channel NoNo$YesYesYes$Hallmark Yes$$YesYesYesYesHBO/Max NoNoNo$$No$HGTV YesYesYesYesYesNoYesHistory YesYesYesNoYesNo$HLN No$YesYesYesNoYesIFC YesYesYesYesNoNoYesInvestigation Discovery YesYesYesYesYesNoYesLifetime YesYesYesNoYesNo$Lifetime Movie Network Yes$$NoYesNo$ChannelPhilo ($33)Sling Orange ($46)Sling Blue ($46)YouTube TV ($83)Hulu with Live TV ($83)FuboTV ($85)DirecTV ($90)Magnolia Network Yes$$YesYesNo$MeTV YesYesYesNoNoYesYesMGM+ $$$$NoNo$MLB Network No$$NoYes$$Motor Trend YesYesNoYesYesNoYesMSNBC NoNoYesYesYesYesYesMTV Yes$$YesYesYesYesMTV2 Yes$$Yes$$YesNationwide Geographic NoNoYesYesYesYesNoNat Geo Wild NoNo$YesYes$$NBA TV No$$YesNo$$NFL Network NoNoYesYesYesYes$NFL Red Zone NoNo$$$$NoNHL Network No$$NoNo$$Nickelodeon YesNoNoYesYesYesYesNick Jr. YesYesYesYesYesYes$Nicktoons Yes$$Yes$$$OWN YesNoNoYesYesNo$Oxygen NoNo$YesYesYes$Paramount Network Yes$$YesYesYesYesScience Yes$$No$$$ChannelPhilo ($33)Sling Orange ($46)Sling Blue ($46)YouTube TV ($83)Hulu with Live TV ($83)FuboTV ($85)DirecTV ($90)SEC Network No$NoYesYes$$Showtime No$$$$$$Smithsonian YesNoNoYesYesYes$Starz $$$$$$$Sundance TV Yes$$YesNoNoYesSyfy NoNoYesYesYesYesYesTastemade Yes$$YesNoYes$TBS NoYesYesYesYesNoYesTCM No$$YesYesNo$TeenNick Yes$$Yes$$YesTelemundo NoNoNoYesYesYes$Tennis Channel No$$NoNo$$TLC YesNoYesYesYesNoYesTNT NoYesYesYesYesNoYesJourney Channel YesYesYesYesYesNo$TruTV No$YesYesYesNo$TV Land Yes$$YesYesYesYesUSA Network NoNoYesYesYesYesYesVH1 Yes$$YesYesYesYesVice YesYesYesNoYesNo$WE television Yes$$YesNoNoYes ChannelPhilo ($33)Sling Orange ($46)Sling Blue ($46)YouTube TV ($83)Hulu with Live TV ($83)FuboTV ($85)DirecTV ($90)