Sling TV- cut cable

[coastalhh]

For those of you that have not heard of it. Sling TV is a internet based TV by dish where you get ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Disney, Food Network, HGTV, Travel, ABC Family, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, CNN, Maker, El Ray, Globalvision and soon added AMC, BBC America etc..

for 20$

Then 5$ add ons for Kids Extra, Sports Extra, News Extra etc..

We did the Kids Extra that has Disney Jr, Disney XD, Boomerang, BabyTV amd DuckTv

Update 3-5-15
AMC and IFC added to the base 20$ package at no additional cost
Hollywood Extra Add on pack added as a option. 5$ for Epix, Epix 2, Epix3, Epix Drive In and Sundance TV
BBC America and Xbox One app are listed as coming soon

So our Bill went from $175 a month with time warner to
$54 for internet only
$25 Sling TV

In most areas local channels can be picked up over the air. (Antenna)

We always had Hulu and Netflix anyway

Savings of 96$ a month to cut a bunch of channels we never watched anyway.


The best part is Sling has not contracts so you can cancel anytime

They have a 14 day trail and if you prepay 3 months you can get a free Ruku or Amazon fire stick to watch it on or 50$ off a Ruku3 or Amazon Fire TV
(We already had Amazon fire TV so we got the free fire stick for the upstairs TV)

https://www.sling.com/devices/offers

App support right now is only for Ruku and Amazon Fire Tvs, but it will work on any computer, ipad,iphone,andrioid phone. Support for Chromecast, Android TV should be coming soon.

The draw back is you can only watch one device at a time, so someone in the other room cant watch or it will sign you out. I would assume they would add later where you can have 2 or three Tvs going in different rooms like netflix does eventually. The service just came out this week)

 

[powellrj]

Right now before we make any changes, I am waiting to see what the new HBO deal will be. I am a huge watcher of HBO and Showtime and I keep cable so I can watch the current seasons of those.

 

[coastalhh]

Right now before we make any changes, I am waiting to see what the new HBO deal will be. I am a huge watcher of HBO and Showtime and I keep cable so I can watch the current seasons of those.

That's how I was at first also. But when it was announced HBO was going to a hboGO only package sometime this year I went ahead and cut. We are missing out on Girls right now and I had no yet finished Boardwalk. But I will catch up on all of those when the HBOgo only comes out. I hope it will be no more than 15 or I might pass on it. They said it would be ready in time for game of thrones( I have read all those books to date so I can stand to wait to watch that later as well).

I just hated the idea of paying for tons of channels I did not ever watch. I also like the idea I can cancel sling for a month here and there in the summer if I want without having to wait on hold for 4 hours and argue with the cable company. I was more sick of the customer service than anything and the rate hikes without my knowledge. At least with this service I have total control just like with Netflix.

 

[aprilchem]

I've had Sling for a couple of weeks now - I got in during the "invitation only " period before they released the service to everyone. I'm enjoying it! The thing I like the most about it is that it is no-contract - you can cancel whenever and sign up again whenever you want. We currently have the main package and the kids $5 add on, but I may switch it because there's a new package in the works with BBC in it. They're adding AMC to the main package in the next few weeks, which is making my DH very happy as he watches The Walking Dead.

 

[JenzyHP]

There's a deal to get a free Amazon fire stick if you sign up for 3 months. I saw it on slick deals.

 

[coastalhh]

There's a deal to get a free Amazon fire stick if you sign up for 3 months. I saw it on slick deals.

That is the deal I got today. The fire stick wont be here until the 20th. A rush of people ordered them so I have to wait for next shipment. But I have a regular fire TV for downstairs so I will watch on that and put the fire stick upstairs when it comes. Liking it so far, especially for Disney JR for DD. Excited for AMC and I hope they get some of the fox sports channels by the time college football comes back around.

 

[elgerber]

That is the deal I got today. The fire stick wont be here until the 20th. A rush of people ordered them so I have to wait for next shipment. But I have a regular fire TV for downstairs so I will watch on that and put the fire stick upstairs when it comes. Liking it so far, especially for Disney JR for DD. Excited for AMC and I hope they get some of the fox sports channels by the time college football comes back around.

If they ever get Fox sports channels, that would probably be what would tip my husband into doing it. He would never survive without his Fox Sports North.

 

[Ranger111]

So, a question....I live in a very rural area. Only option is my top of house antenna, and I get five whole channels (PBS, FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS). I refuse to pay the fee for satellite.

But, I do miss some things, mostly sports, such as the Rose Bowl (ESPN) and a few other sports. But of the sports I want are on Fox Sports or the PAC12 Network. For what I read above, those are not available on Sling?

 

[pryncess527]

So, a question....I live in a very rural area. Only option is my top of house antenna, and I get five whole channels (PBS, FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS). I refuse to pay the fee for satellite.

But, I do miss some things, mostly sports, such as the Rose Bowl (ESPN) and a few other sports. But of the sports I want are on Fox Sports or the PAC12 Network. For what I read above, those are not available on Sling?

as of now, no. The Sling TV sports extra package does include the SEC Network (which is what sold it for me), so there might be hope that Pac12 & Fox Sports would follow, but as f now it's just ESPn, ESPNU, ESPNNews, SEC, NBC Universal Sports

 

[coastalhh]

So, a question....I live in a very rural area. Only option is my top of house antenna, and I get five whole channels (PBS, FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS). I refuse to pay the fee for satellite.

But, I do miss some things, mostly sports, such as the Rose Bowl (ESPN) and a few other sports. But of the sports I want are on Fox Sports or the PAC12 Network. For what I read above, those are not available on Sling?

You would get anything on espn. ESPN and ESPN 2 is included and the rest of the espns can be added for 5$ for all of them including SEC network

Right now, Big10network(fox based), Fox Sports 1 and 2, all the regional Fox Sports such as sports south etc, pac12 network(independently owned by pac12) are not included. At the rate they are adding things I would imagine we get the option of all those networks by football season probably for a additional 5$

If not I may have to get another package by then because the big12 is mostly on Fox Sports 1, Fox and ABC/ESPN and our lower level tier three games is usually on a regional fox sports.

 

[nat8199]

I have a question... Does Sling include past seasons of shows, or just live programs?

 

[coastalhh]

I have a question... Does Sling include past seasons of shows, or just live programs?

No. Sling does not include past seasons. You will need Netflix or Amazon prime for that..and Hulu does some but it's usually just the last 4 episodes. Hulu has many of the current fox, abc nbc shows that store the last 4 episode and show up new a day after its aired every week

Sling does have a feature on some of their channels now)supposed to be coming to all of them eventually) where you can scroll back 4 days worth of programming and watch anything that has been on. So you scroll back the guide and pick something..no need to record and no option to record. Everything is stored.

But for now that option is only working on HGTV, food network, travel channel, el Ray network, maker, baby TV, duck tv, gala vision. You can't even pause channels like espn now..but it's suposed to be coming.

 

[staceyeileen]

I can't imagine going back to having to watch shows live, to be honest. That's my hold up.

 

[MillauFr]

I can't imagine going back to having to watch shows live, to be honest. That's my hold up.

Agreed after getting DVDs of all my favorite shows I don't think I could ever go back to watching 20 minutes of commercials for every one hour show.

 

[HM]

Thanks for posting this OP. We're looking at different options for our tv entertainment right now. We bought a couple indoor digital antennas recently and hooked one up to our bedroom tv (the other will go in our bonus room). We get about 20 channels on it with most having a better picture that our Time Warner cable. We have Amazon Prime and Netflix streaming. It looks like Sling might cover some of the other channels we like and would be missing if we give up cable.

Our bundle went up from $187 a month to $225 a month. I called to see about getting it lowered and only got it down to $211 and lost Starz and Showtime. Not very happy. We're ready to give up our HD boxes right now to cut those costs, but not quite ready to lose our DVR in family room.

 

[perditax]

Showtime is also rumored to be gearing up for an a la carte package this year like HBO.

This is a great time to be a fan of scripted dramas (which I am). The new media model means the cream is rising to the top without the need to pay $150 / mo for the six channels you want to watch.

Also I love my Amazon FireTV. I am a long time cord cutter and a gadget freak to boot, and this is the best streaming box on the market.

I'll probably look into this Sling service when and if they actually add AMC.

 

[daughtersrus]

Can you get Comcast Sportnet in the Chicago area?

 

[alymae1010]

Thanks for posting this OP. We're looking at different options for our tv entertainment right now. We bought a couple indoor digital antennas recently and hooked one up to our bedroom tv (the other will go in our bonus room). We get about 20 channels on it with most having a better picture that our Time Warner cable. We have Amazon Prime and Netflix streaming. It looks like Sling might cover some of the other channels we like and would be missing if we give up cable.

Our bundle went up from $187 a month to $225 a month. I called to see about getting it lowered and only got it down to $211 and lost Starz and Showtime. Not very happy. We're ready to give up our HD boxes right now to cut those costs, but not quite ready to lose our DVR in family room.

We tried cutting cable before, but couldn't stick with it because of the DVR issue. This time we bought a Tivo, and we are going strong!

 

[pryncess527]

I can't imagine going back to having to watch shows live, to be honest. That's my hold up.

Yeah, Sling TV is a lifesaver for me because of sports, and sports only. That is the only thing I ever watch live. For regular TV, we rely on Netflix, Hulu, and a QAM tuner/DVR card in our computer.

 

[jenrose66]

We tried cutting cable before, but couldn't stick with it because of the DVR issue. This time we bought a Tivo, and we are going strong!

How does TIVO work. We were cord cutters for about a year and I also missed my DVR...I'm seriously thinking of going to Sling but I have a Fios contract until June...though the cancel fee is only $10 a month so I can get out of it now for $30 or $40, which may be worth it..