Sling TV Explained: What Channels Do You Get and What Makes it Special?

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2015), Dish introduced a new over-the-top IPTV service called Sling TV, which is set to launch this month and will stream some of the most popular cable channels over the internet to a broad range of devices, including the Xbox One. The service turned out to be a real hit at the convention (even making our list of the Top CES 2015 Takeaways) and prompted many techies to express their excitement over something that could represent the next step towards a full digital entertainment library without the need for cable or satellite.

Although Dish has stated that Sling TV is not intended to be a replacement for their full cable or satellite programming, it does bring us closer to being able to access everything that cable/satellite has to offer from the comfort of familiar media streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, Crackle, and Amazon Instant Prime, which can be played on box top sets like Roku, Chromecast, and Amazon's Fire TV Stick.

Sling TV will essentially be like a small Netflix of streaming live TV; another one of the services you'll be able to access via the aforementioned media streaming devices, just as you can access Hulu on a Roku set-top box. In fact, Sling TV will be compatible with a slew of devices, including Roku boxes..

What Devices is Sling TV Compatible With?

In addition to providing the most popular channels, Sling TV will also be compatible with and available on the most popular kinds of mobile devices, computers, televisions, set-top boxes, and game consoles, including but not limited to:

• Amazon Fire TV (and the Fire TV Stick)
• Xbox One
• Google Nexus Player
• LG and Samsung Smart TVs
• Roku devices
• Chromecast (coming soon)
• Android TV devices (coming soon to select 2015 Sharp and Sony Smart TVs)

It is not currently available on the PlayStation 3 or 4, or Apple TV, but it is possible that compatibility for these devices/services will be added in the future.

What Channels Does Sling TV Come With?

The channels that will be included with your Sling TV subscription will depend on the package you choose. The core package, entitled “The Best of Live TV” will consist of the following 12 channels for $20 per month at launch:

1. CNN
2. ESPN
3. ESPN2
4. TBS
5. Food Network
6. Cartoon Network
7. Travel Channel
8. Adult Swim
9. ABC Family
10. HGTV
11. Disney Channel
12. TNT

For an extra $5 per month you'll be able to add the Kids Extra package, which includes Disney Junior, Disney XD, Boomerang, Duck TV, and Baby TV. There's also a News and Infos extra package for $5 per month, which includes Bloomberg TV, DIY, HLN, and Cooking Channel. Thus, if you were to add both extra packages for the full subscription, you'd get 22 of the best cable channels streamed live to any of your devices for a total of $30 per month.

What Else is Special About Sling TV?

While the channel list is not that extensive, it certainly contains the most entertaining and commonly watched channels from cable television, giving the younger online crowd one more tool to help them minimize dependency on satellite and cable programming.

With Sling TV delivering live cable channels, and all of the other streaming content that can be accessed via the services playable on any TV with an HMDI port, using Chromecast, Amazon's Fire TV Stick, Smart TVs, smartphones, game consoles and other devices to access such an extensive library of online content, it finally seems that there may come a day that online programming can provide everything that satellite and cable can.

However, if you take a closer look at who Dish is probably targeting with this service, it is more likely that Sling TV will be adopted by youngsters who already do not have a cable/satellite subscription, not people looking to cancel their own subscription. Essentially, it seems to be a way to attract the business of young adults that would otherwise have no motivation to pay for a satellite subscription with Dish. Then of course there is the upsell factor, which means that the same young adults (18-35 demographic) who subscribe to Sling TV, will probably pay for similar service or even full-blown satellite in the future when they move on from their college days and have a family with broader entertainment needs.

While Sling TV is expected to be released to the general public within the next couple weeks,it is already possible to sign up for an invitation to be among the first subscribers, by entering your email address in the form on the Sling TV homepage.