Sling's channel guide often cuts off the titles of half-hour shows. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
I'm just going to say it: Sling TV is weird. On the surface, it appears a more affordable live-TV alternative to the likes of DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV. But with recent price increases, a comparatively modest selection of channels and a fairly pointless division of its lineup, Sling feels less like a deal and more like a set of compromises. While it gets some things right — including an interesting new Passes feature I wish every other streamer would copy — and may yet appeal to budget-minded cord-cutters, there's a much cheaper option for those who don't watch sports and a better overall value available for those able to pay a bit more. Here's my Sling TV review.
Update, Aug. 12, 2025: I've modified this review to reflect the introduction of Passes, which allows you subscribe for a day, weekend or week at a time. See below for more details and how it affects my overall verdict.
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Sling has two available packages: the Blue plan and the Orange plan, each with its own channel lineup. Blue, for example, favors news and entertainment across its 43 channels, while Orange leans more into sports and family for its 35. But there's significant overlap between them: 26 of the channels are available on both tiers, which begs the question of why they're separated at all.
If you want local channels, choose the Blue package — but keep in mind Sling carries only ABC, Fox and NBC, and only a few cities can get all three. Some are limited to just one or two; here in Detroit, for example, I have access to my local Fox station and that's it. None of the other major live-TV streaming services impose such limitations; most offer all five broadcast networks (including CBS and PBS).
Blue and Orange cost $46 separately per month, but you can get both for $61 — the only option that really makes sense. That's still a fair bit less than others, which range from $83 to $87, though you get less as well. In fact, if you tack on Sports Extras, which adds 20 more channels (some of which are already included with competitors' base packages), now your monthly total is $76.
Whatever package you pick, you get just 50 hours of DVR storage. You can bump that to 200 hours for an extra $5 per month, but all the competing services — including Philo, detailed below — provide unlimited DVR.
Here's where it gets interesting: In August, Sling unveiled Passes, an option that lets you subscribe for one day ($4.99), one weekend (Fri-Sun, $9.99) or one week ($14.99). To me this is ingenious, because very often there's just one event I want to watch — a game, an awards show, etc. — and don't want to pay for a full month. But five bucks for a day-pass? Absolutely, that's an easy impulse-buy.
The problem is that Passes are good only for Orange; they're not currently available for Blue. (A Sling spokesperson "sees the possibility" of that changing in the future.) That means if I'm hoping to catch, say, a Detroit Lions game that's airing on Fox, a day-pass does me no good (because Fox isn't part of Orange).
Even so, this might prove to be the perfect solution for someone who wants to watch a particular channel for a particular show or event and doesn't want to pony up $46 for the privilege. Shots fired, Hulu, YouTube TV et al — give us day passes!
I tested Sling TV on a Sansui S55VOUG TV, which runs the Google TV operating system. Sling employs a fast, familiar interface based around the now-standard left-side menu, which provides easy access to things like Search, Home, Guide and DVR.
The program guide is where you're likely to spend a fair amount of time, and it's a mixed bag: drab colors and wonky navigation, but with some appreciable features. For example, I like its large, easy-to-read font, even if it sometimes works against it: There's little room for program description, and in fact if you navigate to a half-hour show, the box doesn't always have room to display the full episode title. Every episode of Friends, for example, displays only "The One With"... the rest is cut off.
Something else I had to get used to: After you open the guide (which occupies the entire screen, obscuring the side menu), you then press left on the control pad to access the channels column and then left again for a lengthy, vertical list of filters: favorites, recents, entertainment, sports, reality and so on (in no particular order).
These are nice to have, no question, and I like the way each filter brings up a narrowed version of the channel guide. But when you select one, all the menus disappear again, leaving you with just the guide. It would be nice if the menus simply collapsed instead of vanishing; as it stands, it feels like a lot of back-and-forth.
I like that if you want to browse the program guide, whatever you're currently watching retreats to a window so you can keep watching while browsing. Meanwhile, a little pop-up explains that if you press and hold on a channel logo, it gets added to your favorites — a great feature for quickly browsing your most-viewed channels. I discovered a related feature by accident: If you press and hold on a show or movie in the program guide, you immediately get recording options, without the need to "click through" to its description page.
Although Sling TV's search option doesn't support voice, it does produce dynamic results as you type with the onscreen keyboard. And my "Tom Cruise" search correctly returned lots of the actor's movies — though it wasn't immediately clear which ones were available on-demand or for future recording. I especially appreciated that the interface shows a list of recent searches, potentially saving you from repeat typing.
Also appreciated: When you pause a live show, a timer shows your elapsed "time behind live," which is particularly helpful when you step away from a sporting event. But I was annoyed to see ads consume most of the screen not long after you a pause a program. (Thankfully, you can toggle this off in the Device Settings menu. Why anyone would leave it on is beyond me.)
I also encountered slightly glitchy behavior when fast-forwarding or rewinding live TV (aka time-shifting): sometimes the progress bar would jump all the way to one end or the other, even though there was still time life to, er, shift. This didn't affect the results — I was able to continue skipping — but it was confusing.
As noted above, even if you subscribe to both Blue and Orange, you don't get a ton of channels. The two packages combined net you just 46, which is half (or less than half) what you get from DirecTV, Hulu and YouTube TV. And while Sling claims a handful of "exclusive" channels, including Disney and Discovery, at least some of them are indeed available elsewhere.
Sling TV streams entirely in 720p (same as most competing live-TV services), though you may be able to watch "select events" (namely sports) in 4K. However, you need a compatible Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV or Roku device to enjoy that; for whatever reason, Sling's 4K streaming doesn't currently work with Android TV or Google TV.
As I've discovered with most live-TV streaming services, 720p is... fine. Shows don't look razor-sharp, but that can be true of cable and satellite live-streams as well. And for the likes of Friends reruns and cooking shows, you don't really need 4K — or even 1080p. (The latter would certainly be preferable, though. YouTube TV streams at 1080p, as does Hulu + Live TV on select devices.)
A few years ago, Sling was the budget choice for live TV: You could choose the package that best suited you and save a decent amount compared to competitors. Now, along with those competitors, Sling TV has raised prices — but without raising value. You still get a paltry channel lineup, even if you bundle the two packages together, with few (possibly just one or two) local networks and limited DVR.
Granted, if your primary interest is sports, and you determine that most of the games you want to watch are available via Sling Orange or Blue, you could subscribe to the appropriate package and pay just $46 monthly. That would make Sling the cheapest option for streaming live sports. And if you can take advantage of Passes to see what you want to see, the deal gets even more attractive.
On the flipside, if you don't care about sports but do want access to lots of popular cable channels, Philo gives you over 70 of them — plus unlimited DVR — for just $28 monthly. And if you can swing it, Hulu + Live TV also has a lot more live channels — along with Disney+, ESPN+, "regular" Hulu and all five major locals — for $83 monthly.
Sling TV does offer a free trial, the length of which can vary; at this writing, you can watch free for seven days. You should definitely take advantage of that before deciding whether to subscribe.
Sling's Blue package includes local channels — but not all of them. In fact, where you live will dictate whether you can get ABC, NBC and/or Fox. If you want all three of those and CBS and PBS as well, you'll need to choose a different live-TV streaming service.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. At this writing, there's no trial option available. However, you can check out Sling Freestream without even signing up for an account; it offers over 600 free, ad-supported channels.
Sling TV's simultaneous stream capabilities depend on your plan: Sling Orange allows one stream, Sling Blue allows three, and the combined Sling Orange + Blue plan allows four.
Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing.
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