Sling TVReviews 531

When my "basic cable" went up to $80 a month I started looking around. I live in a wooded, rural area, so I can't use either an antenna or a dish. I got a roku ($50) and for $20 a month (and an internet connection) I can get both real time and streaming channels. No contracts, month-to-month payment. It doesn't replace broadcast TV or cable, but it is a real alternative. Downside, only works on 1 devise at a time (remember when we watched TV together as a family) and Sling doesn't transmit the big 3 (ABC, NBC, CBS), Check out the stations it does have, (ESPN, Disney, Lifetime) and the ability to add HBO for $15 a month at a time. Love it!

I'm a recent cable cutter. I dropped my satellite TV subscription after completing the contract. One of the things that frustrated me about cable packages is the number of channel in the 150 or 200 channel super mega package that we never ever watch yet pay have to subscribe. You can choose them a la carte.

I put up an antenna and decided to stream everything else. Many, many cable TV stations like ESPN offer the ability to stream their live content over the internet. BUT you can only do this if you subscribe to a cable or satellite provider. Well... if I have cable, why would I want to stream this? (rain fade, away from home with only my phone, etc.) But really! This whole TV thing is quite a racket.

Sling.tv provided a way for me to subscribe to ESPN and a few other channels without buying an expensive programming bundle or a two year contract. For $20/month, I got a few stations I would normally watch without being burdened by a contract. It seemed a pretty good deal. Their app works with a few devices including Roku and ChromeCast. A complete listing of stations and devices can be found on their web site.

It doesn't work on my Apple TV (go figure). It seems if Apple doesn't offer it on iTunes, you can't play it on your Apple TV (partly true but mostly sarcasm). I find this Apple exclusionary practice frustrating. I like the $20/month with no contract terms.

The catch, if you have several TVs and several devices, you can only watch on one device at a time. So, if I'm watching ESPN and the missus wants to watch HGTV on another device. ESPN goes bye-bye. If I watch CNN on my iPhone and she's at home watching A&E, her program is interrupted. If you want viewing on more than one devices simultaneously, you need multiple subscriptions at $20 each.

Watching NFL games via ESPN/Sling.tv stream was frustrating and sometimes unbearable. I have a 60MB internet connection yet buffering, pixelation and hiccups occur on various devices. I am not going back to cable or satellite so I find somewhere to watch the big game if it isn't available over the air.

This is a good start but still needs work.