SlingTV is disappointing

[broadway]

Because of an American Express offer, I am essentially trying out SlingTV for $5 for the month.

Not their fault. The cable channels are underwhelming.
AMC and AE are unwatchable.

AMC sure isn't American Movie Classics
AE sure isn't Art and Entertainment
Since when did the Travel Channel turn into eating odd food channel?

 

[audreyh1]

Because of an American Express offer, I am essentially trying out SlingTV for $5 for the month.

Not their fault. The cable channels are underwhelming.
AMC and AE are unwatchable.

AMC sure isn't American Movie Classics
AE sure isn't Art and Entertainment
Since when did the Travel Channel turn into eating odd food channel?

I tried it on election day when it was free. I watched a bit of CNN early, then decided that I didn't care for those old cable channels at all. I didn't see anything else I wanted to try. That was it for me!

Oh, God! Travel Channel turned into the odd food channel back around 2010/2011 I think. I used to LOVE to watch that channel in the 90s and early 2000s. I never understood what happened to it either!

 

[tulak]

I've had the same experience. I haven't had cable in well over a decade and whenever I watch cable channels, the commercials drive me nuts and the content is underwhelming.

Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon are a much better option.

 

[bloom2708]

Playstation Vue (on Amazon Fire TV) runs circles around SlingTV.

It is a little slower on a Fire Stick, but still very watchable.

 

[AllDone]

Acorn TV and Netflix for me.

 

[broadway]

Hulu seems a bit better. I have it also on a 3-months trial. At least I can watch some of the TNT dramas I have missed since I went to just basic cable 5+ years ago.

I may have to try out AcornTV, because I do like the British TV series.

 

[Ticker]

My wife insists on watching the news channels. I prefer comedy central.

when direct tv doubled my monthly subscription price while reducing my channel choices, I left and signed up with SLING. I love it! for $25 a month we get enough to keep her satisfied, and I get CNBC to keep up with the financial news. I think we get over 30 stations, and I can stream the local news on the roku.

it keeps my marriage together at 1/4 the price of direct tv. Plus, there's enough content, both live and on demand, to always find something to watch when we want to. Living out in the country, it's really the only choice that we have.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Because of an American Express offer, I am essentially trying out SlingTV for $5 for the month.

Not their fault. The cable channels are underwhelming.
AMC and AE are unwatchable.

AMC sure isn't American Movie Classics
AE sure isn't Art and Entertainment
Since when did the Travel Channel turn into eating odd food channel?

I can't say about sling tv, however I remember not too many years ago TV land and tbs were excellent tv channels. Now they are worthless. CMT is supposed to be music videos,half the time they show sitcoms. It's a joke and it ain't funny.

 

[ERD50]

Clarification please -

Is it 'Sling TV' (the product) you are disappointed with, or the content of the channels (which I believe are the same that are distributed via cable)?

-ERD50

 

[broadway]

Clarification please -

Is it 'Sling TV' (the product) you are disappointed with, or the content of the channels (which I believe are the same that are distributed via cable)?

-ERD50

I am only signed up for basic cable, so I basically can use the SlingTV app on my Roku to stream the cable channels I don't get with basic cable.
Basic cable = ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CW, FOX

The content of the cable channels offered through SlingTV is underwhelming.

 

[jjquantz]

We subscribe to SlingTV one month out of the year, October, when DW wants to see the baseball playoffs on the one or two channels (FS1?, TNT?, TBS?) that we haven't figured out other ways to access. If I am really lucky, the one week free trial sees the defeat of any teams she is interested in. (But not the Cubbies this year.)

 

[GalaxyBoy]

OP must not have had extended cable for quite some time. (Not a bad thing!)

TLC isn't The Learning Channel anymore, HLN isn't news, TWC doesn't have much weather (at least in the evenings). As already mentioned, A&E isn't very artsy or entertaining. The Food Network used to be fun to watch, but is all overly-dramatic "reality" shows (remember Good Eats?). The list goes on and on.

The only reason we've been continuing our subscription is because we can't get local channels (live on the wrong side of a mountain from the transmitters), and inertia. I'm surfing over to my cable provider right now to see how to cut this ridiculous bill. Last time I checked, the TV/Internet bundle wasn't that much more than Internet alone, which is why I haven't cut the cord yet. But time to update that assessment.

 

[Midpack]

SlingTV was never quite tempting enough for us, but DirecTV Now looks a LOT more compelling. 60+ channels, mostly desirable (unlike cable & satellite), for only $35/month with no contract. They offer more channels at higher prices. Add HBO and/or Cinemax for $5/month. The only downsides (solutions), no CBS (CBS app), no PBS (PBS app) and no Fox, VOD only. Local major networks aren't available in some areas (Chicago available for us).

There have been some birthing issues, but I presume that will get sorted out quickly.

 

[txtig]

Playstation Vue (on Amazon Fire TV) runs circles around SlingTV.

It is a little slower on a Fire Stick, but still very watchable.

I really liked my Fire Stick, but I too noticed that sometimes it was slow. I upgraded to a Fire TV box, and it made a big difference. Worth the extra money. The box also supports surround sound, which the stick did not.

 

[Dawg52]

Playstation Vue (on Amazon Fire TV) runs circles around SlingTV.

Agree. I love their pause and dvr features. I have read that Sling will have dvr soon. Main reason I have Vue is for the sports channels. They have ton of those. I could probably make do with Netflix and Amazon Prime if not for those.

 

[easysurfer]

I get Sling TV in October to follow the Cubbies. Did enjoy watching some other shows (Bizarre Foods, CNN news) before cancelling (til hopefully next year's playoffs). For me, Sling TV served it's purpose and I'm happy that I can cancel and subscribe without any silly additional fees.

 

[ikubak]

Since when did the Travel Channel turn into eating odd food channel?

I use SlingTV and thought the same thing. Travel Channel??...I want to see Travel, not food shows. So then I decided to try the Food Network hoping to find travel shows but apparently it doesn't work that way. I never watch food shows and I've found the best travel shows are on HGTV, HouseHunters International.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

SlingTV was never quite tempting enough for us, but DirecTV Now looks a LOT more compelling. 60+ channels, mostly desirable (unlike cable & satellite), for only $35/month with no contract. They offer more channels at higher prices. Add HBO and/or Cinemax for $5/month. The only downsides (solutions), no CBS (CBS app), no PBS (PBS app) and no Fox, VOD only. Local major networks aren't available in some areas (Chicago available for us).

There have been some birthing issues, but I presume that will get sorted out quickly.

I would caution you about the Direct TV Now deal. I think AT&T came to market WAY, WAY too early. They are running a deal that if you sign up for the $35 deal a month, you will have that price FOR LIFE. Sounded great, right? Well, the app sucks and its pretty much unwatchable. Constant buffering, and you will see over and over and over again the "Error 40" message. It has a whopping 2 star rating on the application. I spent over an hour this AM getting it cancelled before the 7 day trial is over.

Will it be worth $35 a month in the future? Maybe. The only thing it did for me was convince me that I have no need for it and that $35/month could be used (or not used) somewhere else.

 

[Katsmeow]

SlingTV would be fine for me from a channel standpoint since it has HGTV and Food Network which are the main channels I watch on cable. It doesn't have MSNBC which is a problem but I could add to my Sirius subscription (which is car only now) to add internet streaming and could get voice only for MSNBC so that might work. The bigger problem is no DVR. I tend to record HGTV shows and Chopped on Food Network and watch them while using the treadmill or exercise bike so the DVR function is critical.

Our Xfinity internet/TV has become insanely expensive ($290 a month for 3 TVs). Cutting down channels only cuts the price by a tiny amount.

I have thought about going to Playstation Vue. The biggest issue there is that they have local ABC but not CBS or NBC (it varies what they have in different areas). This is mostly a problem when my 92 year old mom visits. She doesn't like cable channels and only wants ABC, CBS, and NBC. We can't do an antenna because of location and trees. There is no reception.

 

[Midpack]

I would caution you about the Direct TV Now deal. I think AT&T came to market WAY, WAY too early. They are running a deal that if you sign up for the $35 deal a month, you will have that price FOR LIFE. Sounded great, right? Well, the app sucks and its pretty much unwatchable. Constant buffering, and you will see over and over and over again the "Error 40" message. It has a whopping 2 star rating on the application. I spent over an hour this AM getting it cancelled before the 7 day trial is over.

Will it be worth $35 a month in the future? Maybe. The only thing it did for me was convince me that I have no need for it and that $35/month could be used (or not used) somewhere else.

You may well be right, but it just launched 6 days ago, so I'd give it some time before drawing any conclusions - that's why I mentioned "birthing issues." The initial issues are why we're waiting to begin a free trial.

There is a $35/month package with 60+ channels. It looks like a much, much better deal than SlingTV IMO - again provided they sort out the initial issues. The $35/month for 100+ channel promo you mentioned is overkill to us, don't care if we get that.

I guess my point was simply DirecTV Now might we worth consideration for anyone currently thinking about SlingTV.

But if they don't fix things quick, I agree with you.

 

[gerntz]

I don't have any of these issues. I just enjoy my cable.

 

[ziggy29]

Now if you could stream Sling content for downloading and replaying like a DVR, then you'd have my interest, and I might even pay a little more for it. But with the flakiness of some online streaming and no ability to skip commercials, I'm not that interested.

 

[Beldar]

We tried Sling during the free election day offer. It streamed just fine.

We are considering it for our cable cutting adventure coming up, as it offers the Disney Channel which DW insists on having

The other content was "OK", none of it was critical and what we can get OTA and via the ROKU more than replaces what cable offers for us.

_B

 

[Sojourner]

Now if you could stream Sling content for downloading and replaying like a DVR, then you'd have my interest, and I might even pay a little more for it. But with the flakiness of some online streaming and no ability to skip commercials, I'm not that interested.

Exactly my thoughts. After 15+ years of living happily in the "DVR Era", there is just no way I'd ever give that up willingly, just to save a few dollars. I am thinking of trying out PS Vue next year if I can't negotiate a good deal with DirecTV, since it's the only TV streaming service that has true DVR capabilities right now. Still waiting for that elusive holy grail, though: under $90/month for my personal top 25 cable channels (including HBO and all local channels) with full DVR. Looks like PS Vue comes fairly close to that, but some of my local channels are missing and the DVR functionality is limited (recorded shows only available for 28 days).

 

[Bir48die]

Because of an American Express offer, I am essentially trying out SlingTV for $5 for the month.

Not their fault. The cable channels are underwhelming.
AMC and AE are unwatchable.

AMC sure isn't American Movie Classics
AE sure isn't Art and Entertainment
Since when did the Travel Channel turn into eating odd food channel?

Did it for a month. Bought three Firesticks from Amazon to support it on three of my tv's. Was really disappointed. Went to Dish TV with Frontier on wireless.