# Sling TV streaming service - get started



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

While the new Sling TV streaming subscription service scheduled to come online this month has been discussed in the Dish thread DISH's New Sling TV you can sign up to get an invitation to subscribe. If you don't know what it is, there's a good summary description in the Cnet article Sling TV: Everything you need to know though the article really is about everything we know as of yesterday.

The most important thing to know is that it has nothing to do with Dish Network's satellite service. It is separate in the same way that HULU is separate from Comcast which owns NBCU which is an owner of HULU. And it has nothing to do with Slingbox which is owned by Echostar which used to own Dish Network.


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

Thanks!


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

> Even so, I miss channel surfing. Oh, did I forget to mention? Sling TV is live, but it isn't fast. Channels take about 5-6 seconds to load and another two to buffer up to HD quality. It's not a dealbreaker, but it spoils the age-old practice of mindlessly flipping through an endless ream of channels until a brief flash of color catches your eye. That's how I picked my evening entertainment for decades, and now I can't. The modern equivalent is aimlessly scrolling through Netflix options for 40 minutes and never picking anything - and I can do that on Sling TV - but it's just not the same. Like I said, TV has changed.





> Maybe it's for the best - right now, a Sling TV account can only support one active stream at a time. If I try to watch some space adventures in a cab, I might unexpectedly stop my wife's Chopped marathon. That wouldn't end well for me.





> What I'd really like is a pick-and-mix option: the News and Info package has HLN, the Cooking Channel, DIY and Bloomberg - why can't I cherry pick a few grown-up channels to go with my youthful indulgences?
> 
> This adherence to cable packages is probably Sling TV's biggest drawback - it's gunning for cord-cutters (or cord-nevers, like me), but it's still subscribing to the tenets of a service I don't want. Sports, for instance, is the hinge-point of many cable packages, but I have almost no need for it. If I could punt ESPN off of the basic package and add Boomerang and DisneyXD, I'd do it in a heartbeat.


http://gizmodo.com/sling-tv-review-holy-crap-weve-figured-out-internet-1681592627

Since it's really not a step forward in any way, and in many ways a step backwards, I'll pass.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

The Yahoo Tech column headline today is *Review: Sling TV Delivers ESPN for $20 a Month, No Cable Required* which tell us what we already know plus a bit more:



> ...I've spent the past few days trying Sling TV extensively on three devices: an iPad mini, a Nexus 9 tablet, and a Roku 3 (loaned by Dish PR) plugged into a 40-inch HDTV. Research, you know.
> 
> ...The Sling apps show what's on in a simple horizontal list of channels. It's not the most elegant interface, but when you have only 20 choices, you don't need much.
> 
> ...When you're watching a show, you can pause live TV, rewind it 10 seconds, or skip ahead by 30 seconds, if the network allows it. ESPN, CNN, HLN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, ABC Family, Boomerang, and all three Disney channels locked out those features.


Personally I'm still put off by the package starting with the ESPN/Disney conglomerate enrichment program. But maybe someday someone will offer a scripted-TV-for-old-folks streaming package that includes TNT, TBS, AMC, BBCA, etc. for us scripted TV fans.


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## jsk (Dec 27, 2006)

Has anyone tried Sling TV yet? DCRTV Dave at dcrtv.com gave it a poor review because it was buggy during prime time. I wonder if it is just his Comcast connection or if the service is overwhelmed.


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

I looked at the Dish TV Sling channel lineup and wasn't impressed. No TCM and few news channels. I do like the idea of the $5 add-ons, approach, although you'd think they'd throw in TCM with the movie package and some decent news channels with the news/info package.


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