Sam Oliver
Dish Network announced on Monday that its new over-the-top web television service, Sling TV, is now open for business and will include content from AMC — Â the television home of Breaking Bad and Mad Men — Â as well as access to WatchESPN apps for all customers.
Following a three-week incubation period, signups are live and interested consumers can now visit Sling.com to secure a free 7-day trial. The base package —  which includes ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, ABC Family, Disney Channel, CNN, El Rey and Galavision —  costs $20 per month, with no long-term commitments or cancellation fees.
"There has been a remarkable expression of consumer interest since we first announced Sling TV one month ago," Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch said in a release. "We believe Sling TV is a game-changing service that enhances the existing television landscape. Now underserved audiences have access to the best of live TV at an affordable price."
AMC will be added to the base package "in the coming weeks." AMC Networks' other channels, including BBC AMERICA, BBC World News — Â both of which AMC is responsible for distributing in the U.S. — Â IFC, SundanceTV and WE tv, are also included.
In addition, subscribers can now use their Sling TV login to authenticate with ESPN's WatchESPN apps on mobile devices and the Apple TV. This is available at no extra charge for access to ESPN and ESPN2, while subscribers to the $5-per-month Sports Extra pack will also unlock SEC Network, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Bases Loaded and ESPN Goal Line.
Other available add-on packages include News & Info Extra, which brings HLN, Cooking Channel, DIY Network, and Bloomberg, as well as Kids Extra, which adds Disney Junior, Disney XD, Boomerang, BabyTV, and DuckTV.
AppleInsider took a first look at Sling TV during the service's beta period, and came away impressed with its generally excellent video quality and content selection. We will have a more in-depth evaluation of the service later on.
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28 Comments
Very cool- now why can't I watch Amazon Prime on my ATV if I can on my iPhone?
Forget live-only access. I have a frigging several-gigabyte workstation in my pocket with access to high-speed Internet nearly everywhere. With OTA, cable or satellite, we can pause or record to a scrappy TiVo for later replay, rewind, FF, etc. So why not on our computers and mobile devices? espn3.com is viewable live and in replays on my computer, so this $20/month is to watch it on my iPhone but live only. What a sad joke. I guess I'll just have to screen share with my Mac, where ESPN3 is available. The audio doesn't come through, but that's not a huge loss, especially as concerns ESPN's color commentary.
ESPN3 (which includes replays) is available on Apple TV with a Sling TV subscription but not on iPhone/iPad. What is so scary to ESPN about accessing ESPN3 on mobile devices?????
It strikes me that Dish should pay us to watch on mobile, since there's no skipping commercials.
Imagine if JFK had set our sights on building a serviceable Spruce Goose instead of going to the Moon. That's how Sling TV feels on iPhone/iPad.
Very cool- now why can't I watch Amazon Prime on my ATV if I can on my iPhone?
The Amazon Video app for iOS has had AirPlay mirroring for at least a year now.
This SHOULD have been Apple's TV version 1.0 (of course with a better packaging/experience)! Eddie Cue messed up somewhere in the middle by going after Traditional distributors (Puzzling strategy!) instead of persevering on negotiations with Content Owners. What kind of value is Apple going to provide me by giving a better UI for my comcast/Time-warner subscription?..By putting those subscriber-only watch apps on Apple-TV?? Apple putting an overlay on existing eco-system (like what they did with Apple-pay) with out disrupting the model of the existing players wouldn't work in TV, as they found out after wasting couple of years.
I would be all over this -- it's almost perfect, but is hampered by one fatal flaw: you can only access the service with one device at a time. So if I wanted to watch a game on ESPN downstairs, my wife couldn't be watching something on AMC upstairs in the bedroom.
Hell, I would even put up with sticking bunny ears on our HDTVs for local channels, but the one device restriction makes this a non-starter in my household.