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Sling TV Review (2020): Is $30 A Month Worth It?

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Streaming TV is an easy and cheap way to replace your cable subscription, and this review will explain why Sling TV is one of your best options. It’s only $30 a month, you’ll get over 30 channels you’ll actually want to watch, DVR recording and there are no contracts. Plus, you can quickly add extra content, channels or sports with ease.

So what is Sling TV? It is an over-the-internet TV service from DISH (stream TV like you stream Netflix) that offers the most popular TV channels for one easy to understand price. Basically, you’ll get live TV anywhere, when you want, with no contracts, equipment or hidden fees.

Read: Sling TV: 7 Things to Know Before You Sign Up

Sling TV lets you watch the best channels on live TV including ESPN or NFL Network, along with on-demand movies or DVR recordings on multiple different devices. Some of these include your Xbox, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, SHIELD TV, Roku, Mac, PC, as well as both Android and iOS without a regular cable subscription.

It’s TV for the 21st-century without the useless 800 channels cable companies push on everyone. And yes, they allow you to stream to multiple devices at a time. Here are the pros, cons, and if it’s worth the new $30 a month price.

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I used to have Cox Cable and bundled my cable, internet, and phone into a premium package all for $200+ a month. It was nice, but I also had over 1,500 channels I never watched. I was paying for stuff I didn’t need, and my cable bill was one of my biggest expenses each month. That’s why I ditched cable, and that’s also where Sling TV comes in. It’s essentially a trimmed down TV experience that only offers channels most people want or need, without everything else getting in the way.

Sling TV Review Summary

Sling offers all the basics in one easy solution for multiple devices. Trim down your cable bill, get rid of all the equipment under the TV or on your roof, and get TV anywhere you want. It launched in 2015, but now several years later it’s the best option on the market. Especially when you compare it to AT&T TV Now, PlayStation Vue, or YouTube TV.

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Our Sling TV video review below will give you a quick glance at nearly everything Sling TV has to offer for $30 a month. The video doesn’t have the latest Sling interface, but still gives you a good idea of what to expect. Here in 2019, it’s the same only you get more features, a better interface, and a lot more channels for the same starting price.

In December 2019, Sling increased the price from $25 a month to $30 a month, However, they now offer more channels, free DVR, and tons of features they didn’t have a few years ago. It’s still one of the best streaming services for the price, and cheaper than most of the competition.

In short, Sling TV is for people who don’t want to sign contracts and be locked into paying huge monthly bills for hundreds of channels they’ll never watch. The base package for $30 a month gets you 33+ channels of the best TV. Then, you can pay a few dollars more for a bigger package, multiple-device streaming, or for extra DVR storage. We’ll explain all those packages below.

Bottom Line: The bottom line though, is Sling TV delivers more than enough to make it absolutely worth $30 a month. It’s a blend between Netflix and cable, has plenty of content for the price, works on tons of devices, and if you don’t like it, just cancel. There are no contracts, so there’s no risk.

Sling TV Channels & Packages

Keep in mind that you need to look at Sling TV for what it’s worth. It won’t have everything or the most options in the world, but they’ve combined the best of everything into a few well-rounded packages. Packages that are affordable. You’ll get the news, TV shows, movies, sports, kid channels and more for one low price. It’s the essentials but in a good way.  That, and it isn’t Comcast!

Start with these packages, then pick your extras.

As you can see above, the base package is pretty clean, and you’ll get AMC for all that The Walking Dead. They’ve bundled 30+ popular channels for one low price. Add on HBO and a few sports packages and you’re still spending around $45 a month for everything you need.

Being able to enjoy two ESPN channels, AMC (Better Call Saul), TNT, TBS, CNN, Comedy Central, History Channel, Food Network, Adult Swim, ABC Family and a few more all without a cable subscription is awesome. My favorite aspect is being able to watch ESPN anywhere, even on my mobile devices. Plus, they’ve added Fox channels and Fox News to more options, too.

However, if that core package isn’t enough for you, or you’d like more channels, you can add-on plenty. HBO is $15 a month, Sports packs are $5 with a decent selection for college football galore. They have a ton of options for Spanish users too. Not to mention Disney, a Hollywood pack, EPIX, Showtime, world news or lifestyle channels. In all, Sling has nearly 400 channels total in 22 different languages, 65,000 on-demand titles, and support for 15 platforms.

No, you’re not getting a ton of channels here, but that’s the point. You don’t have to scroll through 800 channels to find what you want. It’s the basic but important stuff everyone truly wants, and that’s all. Here’s more info about some of the add-on options.

  • Sports Extras ($10) – NFL RedZone, NBA TV, ESPN SEC Network, SEC Network+, Pac-12, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, NHL Network, beIN SPORTS, Golf Channel, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Bases Loaded, ESPN Buzzer Beater, Campus Insiders, Outside Television, Motors TV North Am, and Univision Deportes
  • Kids Extras ($5) – Disney Junior, Disney XD, Nick Jr., NickToons, Boomerang, BabyTV, TeenNick, Sling Kids, and Ducktv.
  • Comedy Plus Extra ($5) – MTV, Spike, MTV2, CMT, GSN, Logo, and TV Land
  • Lifestyle Extra ($5) – VH-1, E!, Oxygen, Cooking Channel, DIY, FYI, Hallmark Channel, WE TV, Lifetime Movie Network, Hallmark Movies &, Vibrant TV, Mysteries, and Z Living HD
  • Hollywood Extra ($5) – FX, Epix, Epix2, Epix Hits, Epix Drive-In, SundanceTV, Turner Classic Movies, and HDNet Movies
  • News Extras ($5) – CNBC, MSNBC, theblaze, BBC World News, HLNFusion, Euronews, France 24, News18, NDTV 24×7, RT Network, and CCTV-News
  • Broadcast Extra ($5) – ABC, Univision, and UniMás
  • and more

Of course, Sling TV has a pretty good movie selection too. However, they’re pretty expensive and you’re better off finding something in the expansive and ever-growing On-Demand selection. Where you can restart a movie or show from the past on most networks. You can start movies on demand from HBO, Showtime, Epix, Comedy Central, FX, or anything else, as long as you have that channel or add-on. And some, even if it’s airing right now, you can hit the “restart” button to start the movie over.

Sling TV Cloud DVR (and FF/RW)

As we stated in our video review above a lot of the add-on packages have pause and fast forward, but some don’t. As a result, sometimes I find myself trying to pause a channel only to see a notification that it’s not available. All while other channels give me that option. It’s just a little inconsistent, but for $30 a month, it’s worth the tradeoff.

In the beginning, Sling TV didn’t have recording or DVR, and you couldn’t watch TV on more than one device. Neither is an issue anymore. In fact, now you get 10 hours of DVR for free, and you can get more for just $5 a month. It’s stored in the cloud since you don’t have a cable box.

Basically, you can record from 10 to 100 hours of content and watch it on nearly any device you own. Everything is stored in the cloud, so you can access it anywhere and everywhere.

Sling Orange & Sling Blue (Multi-user streaming)

Next, we want to briefly mention something that’s really important, multi-user streaming. I want to watch ESPN in the living room, while my kids stream Disney channel upstairs. This is where Sling Orange and Sling Blue come in.

Sling Orange is a single stream, and only one device can view it at a time. So you can switch from upstairs to downstairs or a smartphone, but only ONE stream can be going at a time. The Orange plan has more channels.

Sling Blue is still only $30 a month with a similar channel lineup, but you get multi-user and multi-stream support. With Sling Blue three users can watch three different Sling TV streams at a time. Perfect for most families.

Other Details

I’ve used Sling TV for over three years now, and it completely replaced the cable. I no longer have a $200 bill, and I still have everything that’s important to me. Pair that with Netflix, and I’m all set. I’ll continue to pay my $45 a month for a few add-ons and HBO. The overall interface is slick and lag-free, there’s no loading or buffering, and it’s a great overall experience.

Sling TV redesigned the interface to give users a more “cable-like” experience. Meaning if you want to channel surf, you can, with the grid layout of channels. Or, you can switch to “channel” mode which has a clean layout with big previews of each show or movie. You can see those in our image below.

Navigation is simple, easy, and straightforward across all platforms. You have a customized and curated “My TV” you get to make yourself at the top. Along with everything that’s on TV right now, rather than a list of channels. Then a regular TV guide, sports, and a movies column. This breaks it down to your favorites or other popular categories.

Tap near the middle top where it says Channel, and select Grid, to get a traditional TV guide layout.

In the early days, Sling TV was a little confusing, and somewhat frustrating. However, in 2018 they cleaned it up, and now the interface is extremely clean, simple, and easy to understand. You’ll have guides that are easy to scroll through or large previews with a YouTube-style layout that everyone is familiar with.

Basically, it’s not complicated and just works. It’s TV for the modern user. You can even browse ahead in the day to see what’s on, and even pause some channels, all while your current show (even another channel) is playing in the background. I can keep watching ESPN while I search for a movie to rent for the night, and more, all with ease. I also enjoy being able to watch movies from earlier in the day on EPIX, on demand.

If you’d like to try Sling TV right now, they’re offering a free 7-day trial. Then, a lot of HDTVs from Samsung and LG have the Sling TV app built-in and come with a free 3-month trial. Plus they’re running a promo where you can sign up for only $20 a month, instead of $30.

Final Thoughts (Is Sling TV Worth It?)

In closing, Sling TV is absolutely worth the $30 a month to see if it’s right for you. After all, there are no contracts, so there’s no risk. However, we recommend everyone start with the multi-user streaming plan, then add on a few packages easily from the website or app. Later you can add a few more, watch PPV fights or events, and add HBO and still pay less than $50.

Another big aspect of Sling TV is sports. The company has a deal with the NFL, NFL Network, RedZone, Fox Sports, FS1, ESPN channels, PAC-12, ACC and more. If you’re a fan of sports but don’t want to take the traditional cable route, Sling TV could be your new best friend.

Sling TV has a system that works, plenty of options, and it’s available on almost any device. That includes right inside the Chrome Browser. Basically, you can watch live TV wherever, whenever, with ease. Not to mention it has lots of room to grow and improve. They took a big step toward loosening the grip cable providers have over everyone and aren’t slowing down anytime soon.

If you’re like me and noticed you watch Amazon Video or Netflix 90% of the time, and don’t use most of the 2,000 channels your cable company provides, you’d be crazy not to try Sling TV.

101 Comments

101 Comments

  1. md azad

    07/25/2015 at 2:31 am

    Luckily there’s a lot you can do to try to improve your performance, and you could see improvements in just a few minutes.teducational

    • P L Cavner

      10/08/2017 at 1:09 pm

      Sling is only as good as your location and I live in rural Oklahoma and it sucks. When I inquired about the programming with the salesman I told him College football, the NFL and the NBA were imparative for me to have access too or I was not interested. I was told I would have ESPN 1&2, Fox Sports, ABC Sports, NBC Sports , CBS Sports and multiple Fox Sport Southwest channels. Surprise I don’t get any of them, they are not available in my area. He had my address & said he verified I would have access. When I called to ask why I didn’t have access that’s when I learned I had been robbed. I am now out $200 & don’t get any NFL games no matter what day it is. No refund & No Football!!

  2. Newktrane

    07/25/2015 at 3:57 am

    I have Sling Tv and can only say : Perfect Review! I have the basic package + HBO. Two things- as a subscriber to Sling Tv I can use the Watch ESPN app on my Roku 3 and watch live & (briefly) some on-demand sports- like I did watching Wimbledon a couple weeks back. Before , in order to use the Watch ESPN app, you had to verify your cable provider. Now, Sling TV acts as your provider- so the channel/app is available. Also, I had the extra movie package, but I remove it recently when I saw that there is some overlap on both my Netflix & Amazon Prime – as both show content from Epix Movie Channel. Thanks for your thorough review of Sling TV.

    • Sanjiv Patel

      03/17/2016 at 6:54 pm

      Everyone BEWARE FROM SLING TV– this company does not FOLLOW correct business practices.
      Do not sign up with them.
      If you sign up, and then cancel your membership with them; No matter what, they will still charge your credit card. They will not give you a refund under any circumstance; and their service is terrible.

      MONTHLY PLANS. First month free, then a month at 44.95 per month. I don’t understand the problems Sling TV they call it LIVE TV! Every time I turn it on all I see is take your TV back, even middle of watching the show it come back and reboot. Long story short, I set a calendar reminder two days before the auto-subscription would kick in. I canceled my subscription prior to two days, yet still I got charged.

      • John Kahler

        03/22/2016 at 8:50 am

        Simple solution cancel credit card or report lost and receive new account number and card.

  3. Shawn

    07/25/2015 at 8:36 am

    When will this be available for Sony PlayStation? Or should i just get the roku?

    • Kevin

      07/25/2015 at 10:48 pm

      It will probably never come to a PlayStation device because they have their own tv service in PlayStation vue

  4. Chase

    07/25/2015 at 9:55 am

    Good review. I agree that its worth 20 a month. I just have the basic package, its good to get cartoon network, disney and abc family for the kid. Biggest complain though is being only able to use on 1 device, it should be open to at least 2 devices so that my son can use it to watch children programming and my fiancee and i can watch something on AMC or ESPN in another room. You would think there would be a simple solution for this but no. So other than that though its fine.

  5. Pamela

    07/25/2015 at 4:45 pm

    I have Sling and I WOULD love it if I EVER got to freakin WATCH it. My roommate has it on just about every waking hour. The couple of times I did try to watch it when he was out, I got the Sling Screw You Screen of Death as soon as he got back home. He turned it on as soon as he hit his room. Even if I COULD, I would not pay $20 a month for two simultaneous viewings. This is a good deal for $20 per IP ADDRESS, it is NOT a good deal per TV. I pay less than half that much for Netflix, Amazon and HuluPlus each and both of us can watch any of those at the same time, no problem. If they don’t change this policy from TV to IP by the time my initial service is up, I WILL cancel them. As far as I’m concerned, that policy is just plain abusive, especially given I pay over twice for Sling what I pay for any other streaming service that does NOT have that policy. It is hard not to feel like that when 99.9% of your experience is: **Your video has been stopped because content is being viewed on another device.** The button that says Press OK to Dismiss should say Press Ok to Uninstall. I have paid $60 for a service we are 2/3 through and I have yet to see a full program and my total viewing time is under an hour. Had I known this would be the case before I ordered it, I would have never done so.

    • Cory Gunther

      08/03/2015 at 3:30 pm

      They need a $5 add-on for multi-device support. That would make everyone happy, including providers. I’d hope.

    • Ryan

      08/29/2015 at 11:51 am

      Sounds more like a problem with your roommate than the service. Just saying.

    • John Kahler

      10/13/2015 at 11:16 am

      I would cancel service and after it shuts off re-order it with only one TV and just keep complaining until they get it right. There should be as many TV’s and devices on the same IP address as you suggest.

  6. Ollie Sedgwick

    07/26/2015 at 10:24 am

    Great review! If it helps at all, if you have the HBO add-on you can watch HBO on 3 devices simultaneously, but only on HBO. So someone could be watching GOT, and you could be watching ESPN in the other room.

  7. Ben

    07/26/2015 at 4:15 pm

    For Android users this review is rather misleading. So far Sling TV app for Android has NO CHROMECAST SUPPORT. It’s “development in progress”, five months already. Sure, you try casting your phone/tablet screen to TV and you’ll end up with endless buffering and lags, disappointment and anger. Without Chromecast support it’s pretty much useless app (because, who’s watching movies on a phone?)

  8. Debbie

    07/26/2015 at 6:33 pm

    Do you need to have an internet provider?

  9. mat57400

    07/27/2015 at 10:47 am

    The lack of multiple access is a big “no-go” for me. If FOX and its Fox Sport’s channel does a similar type of bundle, we’re all set to drop these fat cable and Satellite providers. btw,smart moves from Dish/Slingmedia which finally shows that somebody understands and tries to actually meet the needs of the million of us! Slingbox still has some work to do though as I suspect it’s the ONE blocking the multiple access…

  10. Dollup15

    07/27/2015 at 1:54 pm

    Something not mentioned here is the lack of broadcast channels on Sling TV. There is no FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, CW or PBS. I do not say this as a criticism; I say this a compliment to Sling TV. These channels are all available to most people for FREE over the air; all you need is an antenna that you can get for less than $100. Additionally, they are available on Hulu.

    Sling TV’s CEO recently stated that they have no intention of trying to get the broadcast networks for the very reason that you get them for free with an antenna. He stated that “we didn’t want to force people to buy channels they were already seeing.” How refreshing!

    • John Kahler

      10/13/2015 at 11:26 am

      I know people in the Multi-media capitol of the country Burbank California where most of the studios are that can only receive one major network with an antenna. I live about 15 miles away and about 8 miles from a majority of the transmission towers on Mt Wilson in So Calif. and get over a 100 over the air channels. Granted about 2/3 are in another language so I have hidden those and get about 30 channels I can regularly watch for free including all of the networks in HD quality. I have Hulu Plus for most of the nets replay the next day of shows I might have missed. My knock on Sling is reception is hit or miss. And I also have Neflix and Amazon Prime which streams too and they never have the problems I get with Sling TV. They need an upgrade. I also would say they should give the customer the option to choose their 20 channels they want from the entire list of stations they have available for $20. Then if you want more you pay $5 a month for 5 more channels but you, the customer pick the channel not somebody at Sling TV. Not being able to watch on more than one device is a game breaker they need to offer multiple use on the same IP address.

    • Samantha Heinz

      11/30/2015 at 5:32 pm

      Well, you can get the networks with an antenna depending on where you live. I am in the country and with lots of trees around I cannot get anything with an antenna. I guess I will have to watch those shows online and forget about watching the news. I cannot afford the outrageous prices of either cable or satelite.

  11. [email protected]

    07/27/2015 at 2:35 pm

    can u get live football

  12. Chris

    07/28/2015 at 10:19 am

    What channels are live channels? All I ever hear about is live ESPN, what if I want to watch the Walking Dead live on AMC this fall? Or any other channel they offer.
    I can’t seem to find what channels are live and what ones aren’t.

    • Dollup15

      07/28/2015 at 11:04 am

      All of the channels on Sling TV are available live. Certain channels are also available VOD, but not all.

    • Cory Gunther

      08/03/2015 at 3:32 pm

      Yes. AMC, TNT, all of these are 100% live. Even epix is live, but it is one of the few that you can pause, rewind, or even choose an EPIX movie from 3 hours ago and start over.

    • Melissa

      02/11/2017 at 1:28 pm

      I just signed up today and I’m currently watching TWD marathon, live.
      I’m loving this so far!

  13. Marilyn Klose

    07/30/2015 at 5:39 pm

    I have seen no reference to compatability with a Tivo. Understood if you cant record, but can you view?

  14. cory althouse

    08/03/2015 at 6:59 pm

    love the ides, but absolutely hate your commercial!!!

  15. RAB

    08/10/2015 at 6:46 am

    I have tried the free trial and I will stick with it for the time being. We have cut the cable in our house and kept the internet…while not an ideal solution it does fill a gap. I would love to see in the “basic” package channels such as FX and USA, the sports and other add on packages have some good channels…sports ESPN News and U and the highlight channel but NBC Universal sports….How about Fox Sports one and NBC sports? That is very short sighted…

    Also only allowing one user at a time…please I pay 12 bucks a month for Netflix and get up to four at one time…Hulu with the showtime add on again multiple users at a time….please get this fixed…

    Overall the concept is great and I will keep it for the time being but I am hoping that some of the issues that have come up and are equated here.

  16. victoria martinez

    08/13/2015 at 11:58 am

    so if i want to watch tv in one room and someone wants to watch in another room it is impossible?

  17. Michael McCombs

    08/13/2015 at 8:14 pm

    Just signed up for Slingtv and only see about half the channels the advertise on their website. After free trial I will cancel as this is false advertising and will be calling the BBB!

  18. Christie Meller

    08/17/2015 at 10:20 am

    I am having problems using the WatchESPN app anywhere but on my home network. Not pleased.

  19. Porkbutt

    08/22/2015 at 8:02 am

    Need fox Sports channels too, or cannot leave cable !!

  20. Bobby W

    08/25/2015 at 7:47 am

    Great review! I signed-up for Sling TV’s free trial, yesterday, and have ordered a TiVo Roamio OTA DVR for the locally broadcast digital channels. In the next few days, we plan to drop AT&T’s $126/month U-verse, since we never watch all of those channels, anyway.
    We chose Sling TV, specifically for HGTV, AMC (Better Call Saul), and DIY ($5 extra Lifestyle package), to complement our new Roku 2, which is connected via Ethernet with HDMI output to our A/V 5.1 receiver.
    Roku, Sling and Amazon Instant Videos are all we really need! The other Sling channels, and the free Roku channels, are just icing on the cake.
    In the future, I’m hoping Sling will add the ability to pause live TV and view previous episodes for all channels, but I’m still happy enough with it to jump on board now, to save $1,032 per year, less than what I was paying for U-verse.

  21. TS

    08/28/2015 at 6:12 pm

    We have had it for a few months and are strongly considering canceling. Having access to the channels is great, but it NEVER works! We cannot watch anything without constant interruption. Right now it’s not worth it because we cannot watch it.

  22. Ryan

    09/01/2015 at 5:36 pm

    Do you have to buy anything special in order to view it or do you just download an app? I’m looking at getting it on my PC and my iPhone.

  23. K

    09/02/2015 at 6:25 am

    Nothing in this review relates to the actual use of sling TV. I constantly have slight pauses during viewing, it takes a minute to get a clear a picture when first loading, my first apple 2gs device i had in the 1980’s loaded faster than sling, and finally for the last three days ive had problems with sling not loading at all and I’m subjected to watching pbs on my antennae…..it’s hard to bring back TV.

  24. Drew

    09/10/2015 at 4:17 pm

    Can somebody, anybody tell me where HBO on-demand exists on sling? I get the channel, but don’t see ondemand for it.

  25. Fred Sanford

    09/12/2015 at 6:14 pm

    Unwatchable on my home network (>26 down). ESPN constantly crashes, reloads, pixelates, pauses, and stutters. A terrible disappointment for big games. Not good.

  26. Angie

    09/14/2015 at 6:36 pm

    Why when watching ESPN does it play music when it’s a commercial break? Why not show the commercial?

  27. SlingTVisUnreliable

    09/16/2015 at 5:47 pm

    SLING TV is NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME. Sling TV is unpredictable and unprepared to handle major network events, and has let me down and embarrassed me more than once. Shame on me for being hopeful and hanging in there. Sling TV is not the answer for cord cutters. I CANCELLED my membership. DONE with SLING TV’s Unreliable service.

  28. walker

    09/17/2015 at 12:46 pm

    My experience was absolutely awful. “Live Sporting?” That was a joke. The SlingTV kept losing streaming, so we turned to the game on our antenna (the game was both on ESPN and on our local channel). We’d check every once in a while to see how pathetic SlingTV was, and suddenly it began streaming correctly – except it was about 15 minutes behind the actual game! i tried to get my money back after three days of use, and they would not give me my money back (because i foolishly signed up for three months with a discounted player). My advice: Stay far, far, away – especially if you enjoy live events or want friendly, knowledgeable support staff. It was exactly like dealing with at cable company – because they are owned by a cable company. And no, i’m not a cable troll – i haven’t had cable in years and have no plans with dealing with that. i just hate when people offer nothing for something and are not pleasant to deal with.

  29. Angelica Vazquez

    10/11/2015 at 12:45 pm

    Can this be viewed on a smart tv, tablet or cell phone

    • John Kahler

      10/13/2015 at 2:46 pm

      Yes you can view on a smart phone. I have watched CNN on my phone. But if someone else is watching at the same time at home it won’t work.

  30. John Kahler

    10/13/2015 at 11:13 am

    I have subscribed to Sling TV and I for one am not impressed. They claim that you can take back TV I don’t think so. The reception is at times un-watchable and cuts off completely. Not to mention you can only watch on one device at a time. I subscribe to Netflix, Hulu Plus and have a Amazon Prime subscription and none of these other services have the reception problem that Sling TV has. It is not worth $20 I would say I would put up with all the bugs in the system for about $7.99 a month. If they are going to charge twice what other services charge then they should update their system so it can handle the traffic it gets. I also would suggest having the customer decide what channels up to 20 they want instead of being force fed their line-up. So in closing if you want to charge $20 a month and your claim is to take back TV which this service is not doing. Update your service so there are very limited reception problem, allow at least 3 devices to be used in the home at the same time and give back TV by allowing the customer to select 20 channels from a vast list of available channels you have. That is all we want to take back TV. Thank you!

  31. Charles Eldredge

    10/18/2015 at 8:03 am

    I have had sling tv for about a month. Sometimes it’s pretty good, sometimes it’s a pain in the backside. The worst is watching a show almost to the end and losing it. You can’t go back and get back to where you left off….you have to start at the beginning…not happening for me. I cut the cable tv chord about 5 years ago, but did miss hgtv, food network, & bravo. Sling gives me 2 of those for $20/mo. So far I’m keeping it with hopes they will improve. If they don’t… I will cancel. They are making improvements. My Netflix has no problem streaming. Sling should do the same fire more than twice the money.

    • John Kahler

      10/18/2015 at 8:35 am

      I just tried Charter Spectrum TV stream made available for Charter Internet subscribers. For $12.99. A month you get local channels plus your choice of multiple channels of HBO or Showtime and not on one tv but rather on runlimited tv’s and devices on same IP address. For an additional $7 you get about 16 additional channels including those you mentioned. My only knock is they need to add the 24/7 news channels such as CNN, FOX, MSNBC. Plus the reception is excellent and you get a free Roku 3 with either package. After ordered in took 24 hours for the Spectrum app on Roku to work and 48 hours for Spectrum app on my phone to work. Now everything is working smoothly. Cancelling Sling TV so fast.

  32. Kaye

    10/19/2015 at 9:32 am

    I have just recently installed sling tv on my mobile device. I can say as an honest review that for $20, this service is worth every penny. Just 20?! I live in the Bronx, NY. James Dolan and his cronies over at MSG have a strangle hold on all cable tv in my area. The most basic cable package offered by Cablevision (optimum) is billed at over 70 per month with 90% of what they bundle being channels that most of us would never watch, like the channel that shows some footage of a street corner somewhere in the city, for no reason. I’m paying for this? How about that OTB channel? Sling tv is more along the lines of what we would really watch on cable if we had a CHOICE. I want The Walking Dead, not some religious channel in Korean. The only downside is the lack of local broadcast networks like Fox, the CW, ABC, NBC and CBS. I’m almost certain though that provided you guys spend the money and drop cable to sign up, the success will precipitate more options. Seriously, we all have to help break the monopoly that is Cable tv. Its been at least two days now on Sling…and honestly, when I do the numbers, based on what I get for $20 with Sling vs. what I get from my cable which right now is $213 for the month of September, the imbalance is striking and the financial ramifications are significant. Like their motto, let’s get back control of the TV set.

  33. Angel

    10/20/2015 at 8:32 pm

    Please don’t buy sling tv

    • MB

      11/02/2015 at 6:01 pm

      Said every cable company ever.

  34. May

    10/28/2015 at 4:41 am

    i was excited to see this new option as I gave up cable a year ago and miss HGTV and TCM. but there is NO WAY in heck will sit through commercials and not have the ability to pause, FF, rewind. (this is why I don’t use Hulu – too many commercials with the inability to FF thru them).and most importantly, if I can’t schedule recordings of shows so I can watch when I WANT, it’s an absolute NO GO for me. I’ll be on no one’s time schedule but my own!

  35. Mike

    11/12/2015 at 12:51 pm

    I had to cancel my Sling TV subscription after about a month — constantly out of synch — drop outs — buffering. It wasn’t my internet connection as HBO Now and Amazon are fine on all my devices. It’s the poor design of Sling TV – it’s a shame…. if they ever work out the kinks with live streaming, the $20. per month would be worth it. Too bad.

  36. Murphie

    11/14/2015 at 9:45 pm

    ESPN s s ESPN 2 can take 20 secs to load or 45 secs. And a 45 second lag. Tonight it was really bad. Do others have lag issues? The reviewer said no lag

  37. therearebetterways

    11/16/2015 at 12:28 pm

    I wish there were more reviews detailing VOD options. I’m not interested in live TV.

  38. RON

    11/21/2015 at 3:23 pm

    CONSTANTLY BREAKING UP. CAN’T GO 5 MINUTES ON ESPN WITHOUT IT SCREWING UP. I’VE MISSED MANY BIG PLAYS. WILL CANCEL AFTER THE SUPER BOWL.

    • Eric

      11/28/2015 at 5:22 pm

      Luckily for you the “Big Game” is not on ESPN…otherwise you’d be SOL….the bigger the game the bigger the disappointment as it won’t load or will constantly buffer…by the end of the game you are 10 minutes behind reality.

  39. Perico Lospalotes

    11/25/2015 at 4:51 am

    Mediocre at best!! It’s laggy, voice and video out of sync, image stops at random times.

  40. SA

    11/25/2015 at 8:53 am

    Good by Charter TV Rochester

  41. DB

    11/27/2015 at 3:30 pm

    I agree with the above posts… we truly love the channel options. These channels are all we really ever watched on cable. So it’s great in that aspect. The downside is that it is very clunky in the way you navigate. That needs improvement. It also has so much lag and constantly goes right out of what you are watching while you are watching it. Never gives me issues on Netflix or Hulu so I know it’s not my internet and it’s not my tv. We like Sling a lot but we feel it might not be something we keep if these issues don’t get corrected very soon!

  42. Eric

    11/28/2015 at 5:26 pm

    Absolutely horrible if you want to watch live sports…..your ability to watch ESPN/ESPN2 is basically the inverse of the popularity of what you want to watch….If 100% of the people want to watch something, there is ZERO chance you will be able to stream it through sling…however if it’s a re-run of cow pie tossing, It’ll stream right along. The other channels seem to be OK.

    Bottom line….If you want it for sports, forget it….if you want it for the other channels, it’s OK

  43. Slingsucks

    11/30/2015 at 6:04 pm

    This sling really sucks I would rather have a rectal exam done by a man with big hands than deal with this shit.. Back to cable it is

  44. AD

    12/02/2015 at 8:18 am

    Has a few It problems with the service. Never worked on my PC and not compatible with PS4 even after I was in contact with It multiple times. Sports and the walking dead would have trouble streaming at times and I have fast 50 Mbps internet.

    My phone could not display live sports games on ESPN. (not sure if all people have this problem though)

    Bottom line: More holes in this service that a block of Swiss cheese and I live in Minnesota so I am a credible Swiss cheese source.

  45. lynda chavez

    12/04/2015 at 9:48 am

    im being charged actually $20 twice a month. they charge every 4 weeks. not monthly. so is it worth $42.00 a month?

  46. DonL

    12/07/2015 at 7:25 am

    After getting an update to the Sling app on Nov 19, 2015, I am very pleased. There was a problem with the app closing on my Sony 65” android TV, but now it is fixed. I can watch any channel for hours without any problem. Sling TV has a lot of channels my wife an I like. We do have quality high speed internet which I think is necessary for a large screen TV resolution. We are getting all the OTA network channels with an small antenna so no more cable bills! I mainly watch History and H2. My wife watches LMN, Lifetime, and AMC. For History, H2, LMN & Lifetime you can watch live, or go back and watch anything broadcasted in the last 3 days. Also you can pause and rewind & forward. On AMC you can watch it live or watch the last 2 episodes anytime after the live. I don’t see a big problem. ESPN Sling TV login works on the Watch ESPN app for those having trouble with ESPN built into Sling TV. Sling TV can be improved but I am just glad to have something that works fairly well and is NOT cable.

    • therearebetterways

      12/07/2015 at 8:24 am

      Thank you for your helpful review. I haven’t seen much info on it’s on demand content. Are you using Roku?

  47. No sling

    12/31/2015 at 10:22 pm

    Unfortunately, this service is just awful for ESPN. If its not buffering, the picture is unwatchable in both quality and yoyoing. Other channels seem to be a bit better, it is inconsistent at best. I would not tolerate this garbage for free much less pay $20 a month for it.

    • zzcantgetawink

      01/01/2016 at 10:42 am

      I agree with you 100% the service shouldn’t be tolerated even for free. Its only a matter of time when they will be out of business if they don’t drop everything they are doing and fix these problems. Not to mention their ridiculous claim that you can take back TV with the poor service. They also need to give the customer the option to select the 20 channels they want for the overpriced $20 minimum fee. The extras for $5 each a month are bogus as well.
      If they really wanted to take back TV they would give the customer the options to select what the want to pay for.
      The First reason I cut the cord on Cable and Satellite was Cost and paying for channels that I don’t want.
      When a company makes a bogus statement and doesn’t follow through they don’t deserve our business. I get plenty of stations on free over the air TV and have Netflix streaming for only 7.99 a month and Hulu Plus for about the same. If Sling ever wakes up from deep sleep and offers customers who pay the bill real options I may try them out again. But first fix the bandwidth problem you are overwhelmed with.

    • karentheknowitall

      03/22/2016 at 8:38 am

      Thanks for your review. I briefly tried a free trial of Sling several months ago and it was unwatchable due to almost constant buffering. I am trying to find a way to watch MLB games live and thought of trying Sling again for the games on ESPN. Of course I can’t find out anywhere whether my area’s in-market games (Yankees, Mets) are available on ESPN’s MLB coverage. It sounds from your review that ESPN on Sling isn’t good enough to warrant my paying $20.00 a month for it. I can’t understand why cable-cutter bloggers rave so much about Sling.

      • John Kahler

        03/22/2016 at 8:44 am

        It has been close to a year and Sling TV has done nothing to address or improve the quality of their service. My only question is how long before this service is bankrupt? The obviously don’t care about the customer or complaints. You can’t run a successful company like this. They owe every customer at the very least a 50% refund for this inferior service.

  48. Hank

    01/06/2016 at 6:41 pm

    Here it is 2016 and Sling still doesn’t work worth a damn, sound quality sucks, functions don’t work… great idea and would love to pay the $20 to have the programming, but the Sling APP sucks pond scum

  49. Lewis Clay

    01/09/2016 at 12:21 pm

    Sling tv worked very very well on my adroid phone “LG Leon” for about two days. Once all my data got used up it would just spin. Customer service said i need more bandwidth. So for fifty dollar data plan & $20 Sling bill its a bit pricey to be watching on a phone. Sling please connect Chromecast to sling for android & slay those cable companies & make a fortune, im waiting.

  50. JOhn

    01/19/2016 at 8:56 am

    Free services, such as KODI, Pluto TV, and Veetle are all much better than Sling TV.

  51. Lucy

    01/20/2016 at 1:38 am

    Why pay when there are so many free services like, Yamgo.com, TVplayer and Shout TV.

  52. Denise Couch

    01/31/2016 at 8:45 am

    Loved it first month then got where it never worked was impossible to watch a full movie. Dropped after 3 months will go back if streaming problems are worked out. Right now not worth 20.00 per month. Good concept just bugs need to be worked out.

  53. J

    02/01/2016 at 9:04 pm

    This service would be pretty darn good if it fricken worked. Great idea. Might need a few more available channels but they have to fix the streaming issues. I can’t even get through an entire show without it freezing up and rebooting. It’s essentially a complete waste of time as it sits. If they throw some actual money at it to make it reliable then I would happily renew my subscription. As of now…cancelled.

  54. LA323

    02/08/2016 at 8:11 pm

    Sling TV constantly freezes and crashes. It usually happens every 5 (or less) to 15 minutes. First, it freezes and tries to buffer but mostly fails and crashes my roku 2 and reboots it automatically. Think about this for a second. Because this ridiculous interruption happens so often that I have NEVER been able to watch any one hour regular tv show in its entirely. My wifi clocks 50 Mbps and all the other apps on roku 2, such as Netflix works flawlessly. So I know my internet speed or the platform (roku 2) are not the issue, and the fault is clearly on Sling TV. Sling TV needs to stop charging money until they can offer a issue free service. Otherwise, they are stealing from me because I’m not getting the service they claim to provide.

    • John Kahler

      02/08/2016 at 8:51 pm

      Sling TV doesn’t give a ____ or they would address the problem. The service is currently worthless in its present state. I wonder how much longer until they go out of business.

  55. S. Allen

    02/25/2016 at 4:59 am

    We have had Sling TV for two months. The concept is awesome but the service is terrible. It often cuts out if we can even get it to load at all. The concept is fabulous and when it works it is awesome but the problem is that it is not reliable. It’s worse than satellite cutting out during bad weather. It’s absolutely maddening to try to watch a program that freezes every three minutes. Seriously considering canceling. Not worth it if you can’t watch it and I have the fastest internet speeds available in my area. I have no other problem streaming any other services.

  56. chris

    02/26/2016 at 4:28 pm

    Signed up for Sling tv because they offered a free roku 2 with 3 months of prepaid service. I am on the fence with it. When it works good it is not bad. Unfortunately it seems like it does not work often enough.The menu and options are horrible. The controls are clunky and sometimes take a second to catch up, which can be a pain. The motion blur on some of the channels is awful. The sound is often out of sync. It seems to often just freeze and attempt to connect and load for several minutes until I say the hell with it and exit out. I am not sure if it is worth the $20 a month. Especially with Netflix and Hulu being cheaper and able to stream more than 1 device at a time. I have only had it for about a week,but doubt I will keep it after the 3 prepaid months.

    • chris

      04/06/2016 at 5:32 pm

      Cancelled it. It just continued to get worse. For sure not worth the money. The freezing up gets worse. The controls and menu still just suck. If it was not for the free Roku2 and free 3 months I would be pissed. Cannot imagine actually paying for this.

  57. Peter

    03/06/2016 at 12:45 am

    For those who are looking for an inexpensive, no obligations way to view basic cable content, Sling is absolutely worth the price. I subscribe to it mainly to have access to Watch ESPN.

    However, I may cancel my subscription soon because in the 10 months since I cut the cord, I’ve lost my tolerance for advertising, especially advertising that interrupts broadcasts. And American TV, as we all know, contains way, way too many commercial messages.

    So now I’ve reached a point where if I pay for content, I expect it to be ad free. Even free streaming apps that run too many commercials get deleted for my system — immediately. I want to be informed, edified, or entertained. Don’t badger me to buy little blue pills.

  58. puke

    03/22/2016 at 12:59 pm

    Total Scam! Don’t sign up for this!!! It didn’t work for me so I cancelled my account. Turns out they continued to charge me and won’t refund my money! Total rip off!!!

  59. Romie Behunin

    03/29/2016 at 8:53 pm

    I’ve been testing STV on an Amazon Fire TV Stick.

    Love this concept but like with all new technology, it needs to evolve and I believe that it is. I’ve read countless reviews and customer experiences and from my testing done from 3/19 to present I think they are really trying to tackle the issues. At least that’s my hope. Instead of recapping the features that have already been outlined here, I’ll get right to the list of issues I’ve noticed specifically on the latest fire stick:

    * The sound stops from time to time. To resolve I change the channel and then go back to what I was watching

    * App is still a little flaky regarding crashing

    * The setting to use a specific bandwidth has to be set each time the app is launched when running on the fire stick. To you folks that just cut the cable, be careful here. Allowing streaming apps to ‘default’ to the ‘best possible quality’ can eat up a TON of bandwidth very quickly. If you have a bandwidth cap (mine is 450Gb) then you do have to be conservative especially if children are using streaming apps on other tv’s / computers / game boxes etc. This setting needs to remain ‘locked’ when a user sets it and it should stay that way. It seems this functionality would best be driven based on a users profile (Netflix does this) rather than being device specific also.

    * An option should be added to allow a user to ‘set’ a certain amount of stream time and have the app stop streaming once the time threshold has been reached. This would be especially helpful for users that like to fall asleep watching TV and children who forget to turn things off when their done with them (are mine the only ones that do this?).

    * Sometimes restarting the fire stick is the only way to get the application to launch and not crash

    Over all I really like Sling TV. This is most certainly the wave of the future. Cable and Dish companies are going to be a thing of the past sooner rather than later and I have no problem with that at all!

    Finally as one more interesting point: I’ve read a lot of complaints about screen freezing or complete absence of a picture. I’ve experienced the ‘blank out’ effect and I suspect that might be related to the app crashing. However I have not yet noticed a pixelated picture or a ‘frozen’ picture as of yet.

    Hope some folks find this info helpful.

    R

  60. Mic guy

    04/02/2016 at 6:38 pm

    Why do you want to pay for commercial tv? This is about $1 / channel. That higher than cable per channel. This is a slippery slope.

  61. dennis

    04/04/2016 at 2:32 pm

    I just purchased this weekend. Not impressed. I had major issues watching the NCAA finals using the Sling TV app and Chromecast. The video kept cutting out and froze 2-3 times. Does Sling TV work better with the free roku device? If not I will not keep the service. I can tell you that I have the UFC app that I chromecast with no issues.

    • Murphie

      04/04/2016 at 3:55 pm

      I use n a Roku 3 and normally Do not have a problem unless it’s a big event / such as the bowl games. In those cases switching to the ESPN app with sling credentials works well.

      My concern is the “lag”. The games are about 60 seconds behind what is really live so if you are also following on Twitter or other social media you have a problem.

  62. JJ

    04/06/2016 at 2:26 pm

    For the money there are far better options, if you consider PS Vue service which is very similar to Sling you can get 50 channels for 10 dollar more. (depending on your location) The stream quality is horrible, your maxed at 2.5 mbs and you don’t have any options for recording or rewinding. Also they don’t have any options for live or on demand for the major networks, such as abc or fox. I would definitely recommend PS Vue over sling for the stream quality, DVR options and access to the major networks. Depending on your location by the way you may have access to live tv for major networks at a higher price point…. Also another huge consideration is that sling only works 1 device at a time, where Vue works on 3 devices at a time (will only work on one PS4 at a time, but you can have 1 ps4 and 2 ps3’s or 2 firesticks working at the same time) . Sling does have the advantage of being available on more devices.

  63. Kathi

    04/24/2016 at 12:12 pm

    I was going to try Sling on my Ruko but after reading all these reviews I’m not going doing it. Wondering why they’re not trying to fix the problems with it got me thinking…since Sling TV is owned by Dish Network, isn’t it to their advantage that people get aggravated at Sling and either stay with, or go back to satellite? Sorry to say, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for the fix anytime soon.

  64. John Kahler

    04/25/2016 at 8:04 am

    $20 is totally overpriced for an inferior product.
    Netflix has infinitely more customers without the sound/picture issues presented here. This company has had over two years to correct these problems. STV obviously don’t care or have the wrong problem solvers in place or this would be solved by now.

  65. Michael A

    04/29/2016 at 11:28 pm

    I was a very early adopter of Sling TV, signing up on February 6, 2015.

    I was patient with them through the growing pains when the service was not available on many devices, and there were frequent buffering issues.

    They did seem to get slightly better by the beginning of 2016.

    Fast forward to April 29, 2016. I get home from work and am looking forward to watching the end of the 2nd day of the NFL draft. ESPN2 on the Sling app on XBox One simply does not have an option to watch live TV.

    I inform Sling support via email. They give me the run around blaming everything but their service. I ask for a refund for the lost day of service and they reply with “Sling TV is a prepaid non-refundable service”.

    I post the concern to their Facebook page. They ask me to send a private message and I state I would like a refund for the lost service. They reply “I can offer you a pro-rated refund and immediately cancel your account.” from the support person Mario S.

    No offer for the lost time. No sympathy for my issue. Basically a “we will cancel you and not charge you even though we are cutting your service today”.

    I posted their replay on their Facebook page so others knew what they would be dealing with. Sling banned me from their Facebook page.

    This is the sort of company you are dealing with.
    One that is incompetent and unable to deliver their promised service.
    One that will not take responsibility for their failed service.
    One that will not refund you for days when their service does not work.
    And one that will ban you on social media if you attempt to share your experience.

    Stay away!

  66. Stephanie

    05/07/2016 at 5:19 pm

    Was just wondering why all of a sudden they are now only streaming a half screen I would really like to have full screen back as somethings are hard to see

  67. RP

    05/08/2016 at 11:08 am

    Don’t stay with such a company like this. I signed up for trial service and they charged my credit card even after cancelling before the trial ended. Their streaming also is not great. There is no easy way to restart a channel and the videos are not live as they claim.

  68. Vic

    07/27/2016 at 7:00 am

    Wish I had seen warnings here first. Limited shows, nothing like it promoted. Worse, they offer free 30 days but billed my CC on day 7. This is they response when I asked for refund after canceling on day 12:
    “Please be advised that Sling TV is a pay in advance, non-refundable service. Please review our Terms of Use here: https://www.sling.com/terms-of-use
    I missed this when I read the terms. So much for the free 30 days. Stay away. Shows very limited, streaming not great, service terrible. Save your money, this is major rip-off.

  69. Trish

    08/25/2016 at 3:51 pm

    Signed up for what Sling promotes as “free 7-day trial.” I was extremely under-impressed. (Reasons have been cited by previous reviewers.) On the 7th day, I cancelled. My card was still charged. My bank protested the charge at my request, but Sling was immobile. Don’t fall for it. It’s not worth it and it’s very unethical.

    • Vic

      08/25/2016 at 6:43 pm

      Same here Trish, I just got billed again after spending a month protesting the charge and getting the email confirming I had unsubscribed. My advice, avoid this company at al costs.

  70. tom polorny

    09/15/2016 at 9:18 am

    thanks for the review sanjiv now i will not try it !

    • Vicki

      09/15/2016 at 9:25 am

      Absolutely not and they keep billing after you cancel. STAY AWAY, not what they promise.

  71. Suzie Emmick

    09/25/2016 at 12:59 pm

    What about internet?

  72. Larry

    10/02/2016 at 7:08 am

    you payed for it so priority is yours kick him off done

  73. Gerry L Hertzberg

    02/18/2017 at 5:49 pm

    Sling was a horrible experience for me. I have a newer Macbook pro and latest OS. IT kept crashing. They could not fix the problem but they know they have OSX problems. Whats really bad is that they refuse to give a refund even though they know it does not work on OSX…..horrible company

  74. Vijay

    08/05/2017 at 4:10 pm

    wish had read this before.
    Had subscribed foolishly for 1 year package, thinking I would cut off cable.
    Wife did not agree.
    Thought I would be able to cancel the service and get a partial refund 2 and half months into the service.
    No such luck.
    WATCH OUT.
    YOU WILL NOT GET A REFUND ONCE PAID, EVEN IF IT IS AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION.
    It may look tempting to pay for a year….but dont do it.
    Now will have to worry about them charging next year after the current term is done , even though customer service says they have cancelled renewal next year!

  75. Kenneth Suzuki

    02/25/2018 at 10:35 am

    Am interested in Sling TV however can I get TV Japan(Channel 28.4 on my TV using Magic Stick). Also can I get Golf
    Channel? These two channels are most important to me. Thus I pay nothing for my TV now. I do not wish to pay
    over $50 monthly

  76. Scott Davies

    03/05/2018 at 3:29 pm

    I recently signed up for Sling, prepaying for 2 months ($80) in order to get a free Roku Express. Unfortunately, Roku (who processes the shipments) refused to accept the validity of either my street address or my PO box. I went through weeks of near-daily contacts with Sling and Roku (and multiple “escalations”) to try to get delivery before I finally gave up. Sling refused to refund my $80 (for service that I was unable to watch) and to truly cap things, they also charged me ANOTHER $40 . . . because by the time I finally cancelled my service, things had gone one day into a THIRD month.

    Needless to say, I will have no future dealings with Sling (or Dish) in this lifetime or any other. An outright refusal to correct matters caused by a company (or their marketing partner) is NOT is a good policy.

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