Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
I won’t mince words: Sling TV is confusing. Of all the live TV streaming services I tested, it has by far the most confusing selection of plans and add-ons. There are a handful of core plans, none of which cover the scope of Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV, or DirecTV, as well as about a half-dozen add-ons to bring the channel list up to date. This modular approach is annoying when shopping, but it also means you can save a lot of money by only taking what you need.
The core of Sling is blue and orange. The Blue plan focuses on news and entertainment, while the Orange plan cuts news like MSNBC and CNN in favor of a number of ESPN channels. It’s clear that Sling wants people to take advantage of the Orange & Blue plan, which combines these channel lineups. It’s about 30 percent cheaper to buy them together than buying them individually (and about $30 cheaper than most other sellers).
The Orange & Blue plan, which I recommend to most people, covers the major channels but leaves out some of the secondary channels available elsewhere. For example, you get ESPN channels and Fox Sports 1, but not Fox Sports 2 or the Big Ten Network. For this you need an add-on.
Most of Sling’s add-ons cost an additional $6 per month, minus the Sports add-on, which is $15. The add-ons fill in the gaps depending on what interests you most. For example, the entertainment add-on includes Cartoon Network and MTV, while the movie add-on includes Grit, TCM, and FXX. You can purchase all the extras for $27 per month with Blue & Orange or $21 per month with other plans. However, even with the full package, Sling costs a few dollars less than YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV, and there are ways to reduce your monthly price even further by cutting some packages.
When it comes to apps, Sling has just about everything you could want. Roku, Samsung, LG, Apple and Google TV are all supported, as are boxes from Cox, Xfinity and even TiVo Stream. Mobile apps are available and there is an app for the Xbox (although not for the PlayStation 5).
Although the app wasn’t as responsive as YouTube TV, it felt smooth to me TCL QM8K. You can create profiles, see upcoming games and favorite channels in the guide so you can find them easily.