As most of you guys know, I’ve been a so-called “cord cutter” for going on three years now, and I haven’t looked back. Cord cutting has lots of pluses, but one of the big downsides to doing so is the lack of live content—namely sports.
As someone who loves watching sports, Dish Network’s Sling TV, which just officially launched in the US today, provides me with ESPN, ESPN 2, and a whole host of additional live sports content is very appealing to me. In this post, I’ll breakdown some of the pluses and minuses about Sling TV, and let you know if it’s worth trying at this early stage in its life.
Price
The first thing that most people will want to know about Sling TV is its price. The majority of the people that will use Sling TV are people who have abandoned cable and/or those who are thinking about abandoning cable.
Cable has garnered a bad rep due to its exuberant prices, and lack of à la carte pricing strategy. Many people loathe cable for charging so much even though they only watch a handful of channels. With this in mind, it’s obvious that pricing will play a big factor in Sling TV’s success.
Sling TV charges a base price of $20 (with 7-day free trial). That’s significantly more expensive than your typical Netflix or Hulu subscription, but it also yields the coveted ability to watch live programing, including sports.
For $20 you get the following channels:
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- TNT
- TBS
- Food Network
- HGTV
- Travel Channel
- Cartoon Network/Adult Swim
- Disney Channel
- ABC Family
- CNN
- El Rey
- Galavision
- Maker
That’s 14 channels for $20, or a $1.43 per channel. Obviously some of the included channels carry more weight than other channels, with ESPN and ESPN2 being the elephant in the room in this regard.
It was just announced today that AMC will eventually be included in the standard $20 lineup as well, which is a significant boost to TV watchers who aren’t big sports fans. There’s no word when AMC will launch, but it is expected to appear in the near future.
Pricing is fairly reasonable, especially with AMC being thrown in the mix
For an extra $5 (each), you can add the following extra packages, which help to flesh out Sling TV’s offerings:
Sports Extra
- SEC Network
- ESPNU
- ESPNEWS
- ESPN Buzzer Beater
- ESPN Goal Line
- ESPN Bases Loaded
- Univision Deportes
- Universal Sports
- beIN Sports
News & Info Extra
- HLN
- Cooking Channel
- DIY
- Bloomberg TV
Kids Extra
- Disney Junior
- Disney XD
- Boomerang
- Baby TV
- Duck TV
So for a total of $35, you get access to 32 different live TV channels, or $1.09 per channel. You can also rent movies directly from the Sling TV app as well, which isn’t a feature that’s expounded on by Dish.
If you’re a sports fan who’s cut cable, then Sling TV is a very tempting proposition. For $25 (the base package + Sports Extra) You get your hands on 11 sports channels, with three of them—ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU—being the source of live major sports events. Couple this with your standard OTA antenna channels (NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX) and you have a fairly compelling sports solution that’s hard to beat at the price. That said, I do think there is some downward room for movement with regard to pricing, and that the $15-$20 range is the sweet impulse-purchase area that Dish should strive for.
For those of you who aren’t sports fans, Sling TV is decent, but not nearly as attractive in my opinion. There’s a lot of content that just isn’t here for the non-sports fan TV watcher. Of course, this will change significantly once AMC launches on the service in the future. As mentioned above, AMC will be included with the standard $20 package.
Initial setup
As of today, Sling TV is no longer invite only. To sign up, simply head over to Sling’s website and create an account. You can do so via a link directly from the app as well.
The Sling TV iPhone app
Signup is fairly painless, but if you’re considering adding any of the extra packages, you’ll need to call customer support (1-888-893-9069). One good thing I can report is that all of the extra packages can be added while you’re within your 7-day trial. In fact, I’ve added all of the packages to my account, so I have the full-featured Sling TV offering as I write this.
Apps
Once you have your account set up, you can access the Sling TV content via dedicated apps for your platform of choice. Unfortunately, there is no web version of Sling TV, so you’re forced to download an app if you want to tune in.
I’ve been able to test the Mac app (16MB download), the iOS app (12.6 MB), and the Roku app. Setup for all three apps was more or less straightforward and simple. Upon launching the app, you’re met with two sign-in boxes—one for your email address and one for your password, once you sign in, you can begin using the app immediately.
Navigation
Navigating through the Sling TV app on iOS is a mixed bag. The interface is just way too busy to be totally intuitive like it should be. There are tons of on screen UI elements, arrows, hamburger buttons, etc. On the iPhone, it’s easy to get lost on the interface, where you’ll hear the audio from a channel that’s currently playing, but don’t necessarily see anything.
Navigation can be confusing and clunky, especially on the iPhone
Navigation on the Mac is a little bit better just because there’s more room for all elements to be on screen without causing as much confusion. For me, the Roku ended up being the best experience navigation-wise, but it was hindered by slowness, which probably has more to do with the Roku hardware (it’s a streaming stick) than anything else.
Sling TV on my 100″ projector screen via Roku
One big navigation complaint that I have is with search. There is a big search button available on the interface, but I found it to be utterly worthless. Search results returned available movie rentals and current programing, but wouldn’t show any of the upcoming programing on the live channels.
Picture quality
On my iPhone 5s’ small screen, the picture quality looked excellent and on par with high definition offerings from popular video streaming apps.
Streaming looks best on the small screen
On my Roku, which I have connected to a projector throwing to a 100″ screen, the quality was decent, but not exactly the high definition picture that other apps like Netflix and Hulu provide. Sling TV on the big screen, for the lack of a better description, looks more like medium definition.
One thing that doesn’t appear to be a problem with regard to picture quality is frame rate. For sports viewing, frame rate is very important, and I’m happy to report that Sling TV excels in this area. I noticed virtually no judder during my usage, which is something that a lot of other live streaming services have a hard time pulling off right.
DVR
One of the most obvious questions for any potential Sling TV user is whether or not DVR functionality is included. The answer to that question is yes, depending on the channel you’re watching. Some channels feature built in DVR functionality, but the majority of them do not.
Here is a list of the channels that include DVR functions:
- Food Network
- HGTV
- Travel Channel
- El Rey
- Galavision
- Maker
Sports Extra
- Univision Deportes
- Universal Sports
- beIN Sports
News & Info Extra
- Cooking Channel
- DIY
- Bloomberg TV
Kids Extra
- Baby TV
- Duck TV
DVR works a bit differently than your run of the mill cable box DVR. Actually, I think it’s much superior in some ways than the cable box solution, because all channels that feature DVR capabilities are automatically saved for later viewing. The saving is done on Dish’s servers, so there’s no need to have an external box, hard drive, etc. Best of all, you don’t have to remember to record your favorite program, because it does so automatically for all DVR-enabled channels.
Basic DVR functionality allows you to skip, go back, and pause live TV
Channels with DVR functionality feature the ability to go back 10 seconds, skip 30 seconds, pause, and scrub to previous parts of a program. You can go back up to three days in the past to view a show that previously aired. Therein lies the biggest issue that I have with Sling TV’s DVR component. After that three day threshold has elapsed, the oldest shows automatically roll off. There should be some way to save your favorite programs indefinitely. Dish needs to give users a set amount of virtual disk space that they can use to save programs for longer than three days.
DVR-enabled channels automatically give you access to previously aired shows
My biggest beef with the DVR component is the sheer lack of support from most of the premier channels. None of the ESPN network channels feature DVR, CNN lacks it, TNT lacks it, TBS lacks it. Most of the channels that I would be interested in recording don’t even support the feature. At the very least, users should be able to rewind and pause the currently playing show, even if full-fledged DVR support stays missing, but alas.
Overall value
If you’re a big sports fan, then there’s no question in my mind that Sling TV is an excellent value. The ability to watch sports from all of the major ESPN channels is a big win for cord cutters. Sling TV subscribers gain access to ESPN’s WatchESPN app as well, which provides even more content to sports fans, including previously aired games, and ESPN3 streaming.
Logged in to the WatchESPN via my Sling account
While the quality of the shows was moderately good on the big screen, small screen streaming on the iPhone looks superb. Whatever the device, the frame rate of each channel is locked in, so you won’t experience that weird stutter effect like some live online streaming services experience.
The lack of DVR functionality for pretty much any channel that matters is a major bummer, but I’m hoping that Dish will fix this issue in the near future. When and if DVR functions do come to other channels, it’ll be a big improvement over what the cable companies offer in many regards.
One big downside: you can only watch Sling TV on one device at a time
One of the biggest downsides of Sling TV is the inability to watch channels on more than one device at the same time. You can’t even watch two different channels at the same time without the prior feed cutting out. Dish needs to, at the very least, raise the device limit to 2 devices. Hopefully this isn’t a restriction enforced due to contractual obligations with the channels on board.
Sling TV has loads of potential, but still too many holes to wholeheartedly recommend to all users. If you’re not someone who watches tons of sports, then I recommend holding off while the service matures. But if you’re a die-hard sports fan who has cut cable and is in dire need of a sports fix, then there’s certainly worse ways to spend $20-$25 dollars a month.
Note that I wrote the above sentence before it was announced that AMC would be joining the lineup of standard channels. Once AMC boards, then the conversation gets a lot more interesting for non-sports fans.
Pluses
- Tons of sports content
- Decent video quality
- No commitments
- Cheaper than cable
- AMC is coming soon
Minuses
- Navigation is clunky, especially on iOS and searching is worthless
- DVR functionality is missing on channels that actually matter
- You can only watch on one device at a time
- Video quality is lacking on screens larger than the iPhone
- Even with AMC boarding, content is lacking for non-sports fans
- Doesn’t run on jailbroken iPhones
Final verdict
Hold off, unless you’re a die-hard sports fan (though AMC’s arrival makes it a tougher decision). But even if you’re a sports fan, the service’s shortcomings may be enough to convince you to wait until Sling TV matures. I definitely think that Dish is on the right track with Sling TV, but it will take a little bit longer before the service becomes a no-brainer for cord cutters.
You can subscribe to Sling for $20/month at www.sling.com
What do you think about Sling TV?