Sling TV is Now Open for Everyone

Sling TV has already bagged a Best of CES award and it has now satrted accepting sign-ups from everyone.

Sling TV is an online TV streaming service from Dish Networks and is now going to be available to everyone. The service that was previously giving out invitation only soft launch has finally late Sunday night ended it and has now begun to accept sign-ups from everyone on its website.

Sling TV basically offers consumers live access to a total of 15 channels which includes ESPN, ESPN2, TBS, CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network, HGTV and many other renowned channels only for $20 a month. New to this package were also Galavision, El Rey Network and a channel for Maker Studios content which had been previously announced but then did not become part of the invite-only beta test.   

Sling also provides its customers with the opportunity to select more channels through three different add-on packages that only cost $5 each. These packages include news and information package, a sports add-on package that will offer access to the customers to additional ESPN channels, kids and family package and a few other networks. With the opportunity of adding more channels the Sling TV is also quite cheap for these services. 

Sling TV is also catering to cord cutter and what the company is calling ‘cord haters’. This means those people who would love to get rid of cable but have not been able to do in the past just because of their love for sports.

Sling TV basically wants to win over and cater for this audience by offering them and providing them with a lower-priced package without some of the strings that are usually attached with a traditional pay TV service.

Sling TV wants to break the traditional pay TV service features so that consumers can enjoy more flexible features. Sling TV customers will no longer need to commit to any year-long contracts like they have to in traditional pat TV services. 

However with all these new advantages and features that the Sling TV is providing it still has some of the industry limitations attached to it. Some of the most advanced features of the Sling service such as the ability to rewind and fast forward in a current show or go back to any show that has aired within the last 72 hours are not available on most of the networks due to contractual restrictions.

Moreover Sling TV is also only available on one single device at a time. This means that the viewers cannot watch different content in different rooms at the same time. The network is also providing a seven day free trial for customers. Plus the customers can also cancel the service anytime they want as there is no need for contracts.

Well this is a good sign because many people cannot get rid of their TV service as they are in contracts. At least Sling TV gives the users a flexible option here. It seems that with all these new features and flexibility Sling TV is going to make many inroads into the TV service industry. 

Source: Sling TV via GigaOm