Sling TV, or How to Get ESPN Without A Cable Subscription

[devil84]

There's going to be a new service available called Sling TV. It's a streaming video service that gets you access to ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, ABC Family, CNN, Disney, and several others. It's $20/month and no commitment (meaning you can subscribe for just the basketball season without issue).There will be add-on packs for $5, and as of right now there is a kids programming pack and a news pack available, with a sports pack coming soon (no details available yet).

You can watch it on devices like Android phones and tablets, Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS phones and tablets, and PC and Mac computer. "Soon" they will support the Xbox One, Chromecast, Google Nexus Player, and several smart TVs. (They will not support the Playstation platform.) All you need is broadband network access with a sufficient data plan. In other words, you'll still need your high-speed Internet plan, but then again, everyone here probably already pays for that and isn't trying to cut that cord.

For those that enjoy watching games and listening to the radio or keeping up with online chatter/stats, it appears that ESPN is about a minute behind, according to CNET's review. There's no DVR capability, so no rewinding to see that play again or watching it delayed. You do get access to WatchESPN to watch ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3, but not ESPN News, ESPNU, or other ESPN channels.

It looks like you get one device attached, so if you're watching the game, the kids/spouse can't watch anything else. Even with the WatchESPN option.

It will be available on February 9. Right now, you can go to the Sling TV website and sign up to be notified/invited.

There are some significant drawbacks (only one device at a time, no DVR, and no non-ESPN sports - yet), but it might just fill in most of the basketball season for those of us keeping cable simply because we want to watch the games. For $20, it might just be worth a month to try it out (though I won't cancel cable until I'm sure it works for me).

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

As someone who just cut my cord, I look forward to checking this out. Mainly the ESPN sports option and the pending sports package. So far I have an Amazon Prime membership, Netflix, and youtubeonfire.com which is free for all my entertainment needs. Plus I stream all of it on an XBOX One, so SlingTV is an obvious choice for me, and I get ESPN3 using a family members id and password. Between all of this and my local sports bar I should be able to watch the majority of Duke games with no problem.

I still say the ACC needs to be forward thinkers here and go ahead and launch an ACC live streaming site for every game, maybe charge customers per game or you can buy a teams entire schedule for a certain amount. I live for the day that I can watch whatever my team is in any sport and only have to pay for their games,

[devil84]

The SlingTV streaming service is live. We signed up at the SlingTV site and got our invitation yesterday. We've signed up for the free week trial. [NOTE: SlingTV is NOT the SlingBox hardware. There's a relationship due to parent companies, but they are totally independent products.]

So far, we've watched the last half of the Lousiville-UVA game streamed through our Roku device (not a long test, by any stretch). So far, it's pretty good.

The good:

• At $20/month, we can get ESPN & ESPN2, which is why we subscribe to TWC for a whole lot more than that! For $5 more, we get ESPNU, ESPN News, and Universal Sports (among a few other ESPN channels). Especially happy about getting Universal Sports, as it's $10/mo extra on TWC -- has great cycling events.
• Good picture. It seems to be a slower frame rate than cable, which takes about 2 minutes to get used to. It's plenty watchable.
• We have the standard RoadRunner cable speed with plenty of users on our leg. We had several other devices online at the same time, synching lots of files in the cloud and streaming WatchESPN for comparison to SlingTV. No hiccups in the picture at all. No pixellation, no dropouts, no nothing.
• The interface is nice. You can watch a channel on the top half while you scroll through the channels. For each channel, it shows you what was on, what's on now, and what's coming up. Some channels have the ability to stream what was on, so you don't need to worry about recording shows.
• No commercials. It's like getting the WatchESPN feed where they display the ESPN logo and play generic music in lieu of commercials. It won't take too many time outs before you can ignore the music.

A caveat:

• Seems to be about 2-3 seconds behind WatchESPN. Only a problem if you're synching to radio or looking at realtime online chats/stats/tweets. Not a problem if you're not synching anywhere.
• Each account can be viewed on one device at a time. The last device to request a stream is the one that gets it. That means if someone else in the house fires up their device to watch something while you're watching the game, your game stream will stop.

The bad:

• No DVR capabilities. Can't rewind to see the big play or question the officiating, nor can you pause.
• Doesn't fill up our TV screen...it has black bars on the top and bottom (may be our TV setting, too; we've spent zero minutes attempting to fix it).

The ugly:

• You still get Dickie V, loud and clear.

So far, it seems like a good alternative to cable if all you want is ESPN and a few other channels and can live with the caveats. No, it won't get CBS (like today's game), ABC, Fox Sports, TruTV or any other full or part time sports channels (though you do get TBS and TNT that carry some of the Tourney games). Still don't know how it will handle the ACC Network games that ESPN blacks out in the local area. May not get much of March Madness, either. And I don't know how it handles credentials for WatchESPN to watch past games. But for $20 or $25/month with no contracts, you can get ESPN plus a few more channels for just the season for less than a couple of months of cable.

[nocilla]

Got my invitation yesterday. I will be trying it out for Monday night's game.

[devil84]

Tried it for tonight's game. I made it to the first TV timeout before switching back to cable. It was extremely choppy and had a couple 10 second or more dropouts for "loading." Sound continued pretty much just fine, but the video was so choppy I couldn't stand it, particularly when I have an alternative.

Don't know if it's TWC, traffic on our home network (there's actually less traffic tonight than yesterday), or just congestion on our leg. I may try again later in the game.

[nocilla]

Tried it for tonight's game. I made it to the first TV timeout before switching back to cable. It was extremely choppy and had a couple 10 second or more dropouts for "loading." Sound continued pretty much just fine, but the video was so choppy I couldn't stand it, particularly when I have an alternative.

Don't know if it's TWC, traffic on our home network (there's actually less traffic tonight than yesterday), or just congestion on our leg. I may try again later in the game.

I also tried it out last night. Overall, I was very happy with it. I don't have a cable fallback so that wasn't an option for me. I also had a couple dropouts in the first 10 minutes or so of the game. The light on my modem was blinking so I attributed it to my internet provider, but now that I see you had a similar experience I wonder if it was Sling with an issue. Either way, it cleared up for me. After about half way through the first half, I didn't have any more issues. It was clear and not the first sign of choppiness. Much better than the online streams I had been previously using (firstrow, atdhe) and without all the malware and adult themed ads.

There are 10 or 12 channels included. TNT and TBS may come in handy at tourney time. There is also espn2, Food network, Disney, cartoon network, CNN, a spanish station, and a couple other that I didn't recognize.

[devil84]

Glad to hear that it cleared up for you, Nocilla. I was going to go back to it, but never got around to it. I'll be trying it out more this week. I was really disappointed to watch it last night. I can't tell you how much I want this to work well! It will save a lot of money, and also save a lot of time surfing hundreds of channels I really don't watch anyway.

[devil84]

I've done a bit more watching on SlingTV. I fixed the problem with the aspect ratio on the screen, so no more bars (amazing what happens when one spends 3 minutes get the Roku settings right!). Also used an Ethernet port on the Roku to wire it to our router rather than wireless, which seemed to clear up a few minor buffering issues.

I think the issues during the Duke game making it unwatchable were not indicative of the service. Terribly unfortunate timing, though!

I'm seriously considering an antenna and SlingTV. Outside of the cost of an antenna, the monthly charges would be $50ish for Internet (Time Warner Standard seems just fine), plus $20 for SlingTV. Much better than the $135 for standard Internet, standard cable + whatever package got me ESPNU and CBS Sports, and a DVR I've been paying.

I did contact TWC yesterday and negotiate a better price: I got Turbo Internet (so far, little discernible speed difference in speed tests), premium cable (25 more channels I won't watch), HBO, and home phone for $119. That's a lot cheaper, and we may keep it through tourney time, then use the off-season to get used to cutting the cord. Anyone in the Triangle ought to be able to get that deal. Fair warning: calling won't work. There was nothing the local call center could do for me except suggest I don't need a DVR. I then hopped online and did the chat thing. "Aaron" in the call center did a nice job of getting me that package. I think I jumped to quickly though...I didn't ask for the next package that didn't include HBO and home phone.

I won't switch over Vonage home phone to TWC until we're certain we'll keep the cable package. So, SlingTV, Internet, and home phone for $90/mo, or complete TWC with extra channels, HBO, DVR and home phone for $119. Hmm...SlingTV's still looking good. And there's no early termination fee or reconnection fee should I decide to cancel cable and reconnect at a later date.

Caveat: with an empty nest, it's rare that we watch two tvs at the same time. SlingTV supports one active device at a time.

Another option is to keep basic cable (just the local stations) for $20/month, and another $11 if you want the HD/DVR box. But for that price, why not just get the $119/month plan. But, for those of you outside the Triangle, you might have other options.

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

One of my issues with the Sling setup as it is now, is that the only live TV watching I do, if any, is Duke games. The convenience of the DVR and commercial skipping is what will keep me with my current service (as well as the employee discount ). This seems like a good substitution for TV pre-Tivo.

OOC, if one is subscribed to Sling TV do you also get access to the WatchDisney-type apps?

[devil84]

SlingTV also has a lot of on-demand content for TV, along with some movies that you can rent. Other than ESPN, they say that pretty much anything that was on in the last 3 days is available on-demand (find the on-demand content through the Search menu). For example, I spot checked Seinfeld (it was playing on one of the channels). They have 34 episodes available to watch. It appears that many shows have not just the last three days but quite a library of past episodes. You may not need a DVR at all for those channels. I didn't watch them to find out if there are commercials.

I don't know if you get the Watch Disney apps with the subscription. Their website may help with that. Better yet, sign up for a free week to try it.

It won't work for everyone, particularly those families that need multiple TVs or more channel options. But for those that are wanting a way to watch most Duke Basketball games without subscribing to cable, it's a viable option. Especially since you only have to subscribe for the season.

[chazz101s]

. . . which, of course, is TOO FRICKIN' MANY.

First was last minutes of the Syracuse game. Second was last night's Louisville game.

Hardware: Amazon Fire TV stick. Internet svc: ATT GigaPower (fiber to the house).

For reference, we may have an occasional stutter with Amazon Video, but nothing like the Sling TV fubars - psychedelic meltdowns, stuttering big-time, etc.

Then with Louisville, 2 minutes left in the game and the screen goes blank. Pure blackness. Never had that bad luck before. Rebooted the Fire TV remote and went to ESPN and the Duke-Louisville game was NOT a frickin' option. Showed only the next game (Big 12 - OU & Texas?) and that wouldn't start because that game hadn't started. In other words, the Duke game was still being played and we couldn't get it.

Other than canning Sling TV and returning to Time Warner (oh woe is me! not that shell-game with the ever-spiraling-upward TWC subscription), does anybody have some good advice?

Or other, similar war stories with Sling TV?

Thanks for looking at the rant!
Chaz

[nocilla]

I have found that the WatchEspn app works a lot better than the Sling app. It might just be my system/setup/internet but it is a significant difference. Fortunately for me, and I assume for you as well, your Sling subscription grants you access to the WatchEspn app.

So go to your Amazon Fire TV stick and download the WatchEspn app. You will log in with your Sling account info. Then for all Espn games, go through this app instead of the Sling app.

I even upgraded my Sling subscription to add the Sports pack, just to get EspnU. Then I discovered that I now had access to WatchEspn which already has EsppU. So I was able to cancel the Sports pack.

[devil84]

. . . which, of course, is TOO FRICKIN' MANY.

First was last minutes of the Syracuse game. Second was last night's Louisville game.

Hardware: Amazon Fire TV stick. Internet svc: ATT GigaPower (fiber to the house).

For reference, we may have an occasional stutter with Amazon Video, but nothing like the Sling TV fubars - psychedelic meltdowns, stuttering big-time, etc.

Then with Louisville, 2 minutes left in the game and the screen goes blank. Pure blackness. Never had that bad luck before. Rebooted the Fire TV remote and went to ESPN and the Duke-Louisville game was NOT a frickin' option. Showed only the next game (Big 12 - OU & Texas?) and that wouldn't start because that game hadn't started. In other words, the Duke game was still being played and we couldn't get it.

Other than s**t-canning Sling TV and returning to Time Warner (oh woe is me! not that shell-game with the ever-spiraling-upward TWC subscription), does anybody have some good advice?

Or other, similar war stories with Sling TV?

Thanks for looking at the rant!
Chaz

Sorry to hear that. I've not had any similar problems. I'm running SlingTV on a Roku Stick using Time Warner's RoadRunner. Any problems I've had with streaming anything (including Netflix and Amazon Prime) are directly attributable to Time Warner hiccups or bandwidth issues*. We've actually been quite pleased with Sling's performance. Seems to be on par with the Roku WatchESPN app using "borrowed" credentials.

* In my house, one starts a major upload/download while sports or a movie is streaming at one's own peril. There's plenty of bandwidth for 4-5 others to randomly surf the Internet while streaming, just not downloading huge upgrades or uploading a week's worth of vacation photos. We've got the standard 15mbps service for $39.99/month.

[chazz101s]

Thank you, nocilla and devil84, for your kind replies.

nocilla, yours is a fine suggestion - I had forgotten about the watch espn app (which, IIRC, we used with an early season game that was espn3-only "broadcast").

Missing the end of the Syracuse game was suboptimal, but missing the end of the Louisville game made me want to track down throttle some Sling TV engineers!

Anybody else with successes or failures via Sling TV, especially in re: ESPN?

Related, has anybody had luck contacting Sling TV about problems?

Thanks again,
Chaz

[devil84]

Related, has anybody had luck contacting Sling TV about problems?

Actually, I did have one tiny issue...when I signed up for Sling, I had meant to take them up on a free Roku offer. However, I was in a hurry (the game had already tipped off and we didn't have any WatchESPN credentials like we had for the previous game), so I forgot to click through the link to get the free Roku when signing up. I contacted them about 2 weeks later, and they were quite gracious, giving me a pro-rated refund on the first month, then charging me the 3 months upfront (as the deal requires) and I had the Roku unit about 3 days later. I was extremely impressed. I thought I was out of luck. This was all done via email, and it was handled quickly, professionally, and to my satisfaction. I was pleasantly surprised!

[-jk]

I'll reinforce devil84's notion of hard wiring. Any time you can hard wire you reduce trouble and congestion. It's well worth the effort to pull cable to your media center.

-jk

[devil84]

I'll reinforce devil84's notion of hard wiring. Any time you can hard wire you reduce trouble and congestion. It's well worth the effort to pull cable to your media center.

-jk

Full disclosure: we upgraded from the older Roku 2XS (the older model, circa 2011) to the Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI, 2014 version) in November. I'm now streaming wirelessly, with the router is next to the TV. If you have the option, yes, definitely go hard-wired. If you can't and you're using older technology, try upgrading to a newer wireless model.

I've been very impressed with the newer technology. We rarely have a "loading" issue now with the new, wireless stick instead of the older, wired version on the same router -- it didn't happen often with the wired, though, maybe once every 6-8 hours of streaming on any streaming service (not just Sling), and only once did it last longer than 10 seconds. Now it's much less frequent and has always been attributable to either somebody hogging bandwidth on another device or, more likely, all other wireless devices have Internet issues, too. I do have my issues with RoadRunner, and it appears that paying more for increased speed won't cure the connection issues.

One change we're looking into is the cable modem. We're running a Motorola SB6121. It has 4 downstream channels. Perhaps upgrading to a Motorola SB6141 with 8 downstream channels will provide a snappier response when multiple people are hitting the Internet at once (when the kids are home, we might have a can-you-top-this YouTube contest or one's watching cycling/swimming videos, another with motorcycles, and a third on craft videos). We haven't figured out if that will give us better responsiveness, and if it does, we haven't decided whether to upgrade the service here (we only need it upgraded when the kids are home) or (im)patiently wait until Google Fiber arrives and will render obsolete whatever modem we have. But, between the two techies, neither one of us is a network hardware guru and just not THAT interested in figuring this out (anyone have a quick answer?). One thing are certain of is that if you've had your modem for a few years or more (whether you or the cable company owns it), check your cable provider's list of those they currently provide (they'll support more than they provide, so look at the new customer options). If your model is not on there, upgrade to one that is. The features in the newer hardware may give you some performance gains, including a more consistent connection so you don't lose your streaming service. And if you're renting it, you'll likely find that you can buy one for less than 10 months or so of rental fees.

[YmoBeThere]

I experienced a similar meltdown during the Louisville game. Switched to my iPhone and the WatchESPN app and finished the game that way. I'm streaming wirelessly to a Roku 3 box. I blame most of my issues on AT&T DSL connection. I tend to have issues with my tablet concurrently.

[77devil]

Seems to be on par with the Roku WatchESPN app using "borrowed" credentials.

I'm shocked, just shocked that members of the DBR community would not pay for access using "borrowed" credentials.

[devil84]

I'm shocked, just shocked that members of the DBR community would not pay for access using "borrowed" credentials.

For testing purposes, of course. Had to make sure it would work for my Mom.