From the WSJ -
http://www.wsj.com/articles/sling-tv-a-giant-step-from-cable-1422270001?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThirdTelevision is finally escaping the clutches of cable.
The latest cable monopoly to fall is live TV. An Internet service launching Tuesday called Sling TV streams a dozen of the most popular networks, including ESPN, CNN, TBS and Disney Channel,—for a flat $20 a month. Using an early version, I’ve been watching TV on my tablet, phone and even on a big screen.
Sling TV fills a big void for cable-cutters. Created by Dish Network (yes, the satellite people), it’s the first service to live stream major sports, news and other traditionally pay-TV shows without being tethered to a cable subscription. For a generation that never signed up for cable, Sling TV unlocks access to Monday Night Football, Anderson Cooper and Conan O’Brien. For irate cable customers, it’s an honest alternative.
The old ball-and-chain cable subscription is looking pretty rusty.
Sling TV still isn’t my dream TV. What I really want is one that works like apps on a smartphone—I pick the video sources I want to pay for, and then I pick from their buffet whenever I want. Sling TV is still a middleman to the shows I want, albeit a more tolerable middleman. It makes you buy all of its dozen preset live channels, which don’t include the broadcast networks or some of my cable favorites, like Comedy Central.
Yet Sling TV is the most hopeful sign yet that cable providers are losing their chokehold on home entertainment. The elements of a new TV experience are coming together: CBS started streaming its network for $6 a month in the fall. HBO will soon sell its streaming service directly, a move one firm estimates will lead seven million Americans to drop cable. And Sony is gearing up its own streaming service called Vue with channels from Fox and NBCUniversal.
Why cheer the replacement of cable TV with Internet TV? Buying and watching cable feels as dated as a Johnny Carson monologue. Streaming services give us choice and let us see exactly what we’re paying for. Sling TV doesn’t have the hassle of a sneaky contract or a long-term commitment. It won’t make canceling into the Ninth Circle of Hell.
Services like Sling TV also have another great advantage: software. With updates to their apps, they can keep inventing new ways to keep us happy, like searching and making recommendations.
Be careful what you wish for, warn the cable companies. Sling TV may cost just $20, but unless you have narrow tastes that match its 12 channels, you’ll likely need to supplement it with other services. The price of all of this could quickly add up to more than the average $90 a month Americans pay for cable.
Whether cutting cable with Sling TV will save you money and hassle depends on how—and how much—you watch TV.
Here’s what you need to know before you get out your wire cutters.
What You Need
To cut cable, be prepared to swap your cable box for apps. Some people will find that fantastic—apps can do cool stuff, and Sling’s app is as intuitive as most cable boxes. But you’ll probably end up having to use several different apps to watch all your shows. No one has yet made switching apps as easy as changing channels on a trusty clicker.
The $20-a-month Sling TV service provided by Dish Network offers 12 channels on a smart phone, tablet or traditional Internet-ready TV. device. PHOTO: JASON HENRY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
You’ll also need the right gear. Sling TV runs on streaming boxes including Roku (my favorite) and Amazon Fire TV, but not Apple TV. It can also run on the Xbox One and on certain Internet-connected TVs from Samsung and LG. And there’s nothing tying you down. You can also watch Sling TV on Android and Apple phones and tablets, as well as on PCs and Macs.
Like other streaming services, Sling TV requires a broadband connection. That’s a significant cost, but it’s one that many people have already worked into their budgets. I’d recommend one with a download speed of at least five megabits a second.
Sling TV was zippy for me at home, but I was also one of very few people using it last week. After opening the app, switching between HD channels took about a second.
WHAT YOU CAN WATCH ON SLING TV
For $20 a Month
• ESPN
• ESPN 2
• TNT
• TBS
• Food Network
• HGTV
• Travel Channel
• Cartoon Network
• Cartoon Network / Adult Swim
• Disney Channel
• ABC Family
• CNN
$5 Add-On Packs
Kids Extra
• Disney Junior
• Disney XD
• Boomerang
• Baby TV
• Duck TV
News & Info Extra
• HLN
• Cooking Channel
• DIY
• Bloomberg TV
Watching Sling TV is similar in many ways to watching traditional cable. For $20 a month, you get access to a dozen networks that look just the way they do on cable. The service also sells $5 add-on packages, featuring a theme for those channels, such as family entertainment. There’s a one-week free trial, and no long-term commitment.
For cable cutters now more accustomed to Netflix and Hulu’s on-demand service, Sling TV may be a little disorienting. It’s built around the old-time concept called channels that you stream live, commercials and all. You can flip between the channels or view a schedule of programs for each one.
Sling TV also lets you go back in time for three days to watch earlier programs, like a TiVo in the cloud. For now, though, that only works on a few channels, including the Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel. So you can’t record and binge on an entire season of “Friends” on TBS. (There’s also no way to hook up a DVR of your own.)
I hope Sling TV can add this look-back capability to everything. As I used Sling TV, I realized it had been years since I watched most shows live. I loved that I now had access to TBS, but without a DVR I had to tune in to “Conan” right at 11 p.m.
Sling TV gives you one other way to watch shows on demand, but it requires more futzing with apps. Subscribers can use their Sling TV logins to access the streaming apps offered by some channels, a right usually reserved for cable customers. At launch, however, they have only turned that on for the Watch ESPN app.
What You Watch
Live TV may not be great for “Conan,” but it’s what cable cutters have been waiting for in sports and news. Sling TV’s biggest coup is snagging ESPN and TNT, home to many of the biggest NFL, MLB and NBA games.
But sports addicts may still have the hardest time really cutting cable. Many teams lock up games on cable-only channels. So if you live in New York City and wanted to (legally) watch the Knicks take on the Hornets this past Saturday, you needed to have access to the cable-only MSG network.
There are other interests, too, that you can’t find on Sling TV or elsewhere. At the moment, there’s no live online Fox News or MSNBC. There’s also no way to buy a live stream of broadcast networks like NBC, ABC and Fox, though you can always use an antenna to get them for free over the air.
It’s worth asking: Just how important is it to see your shows when they first come out? There’s no way to stream live Comedy Central online, but you can watch “South Park” on demand on Hulu a day after it airs.
As the options—and complexity—increase, cable cutters will have to do the math on whether streaming actually saves money compared with a big fat cable package. We’re likely, I suspect, to see other services like Sling TV with competing channels. If one or two has everything you really need, then you’re set. But if you need a half-dozen to cover all your bases, then you should rethink cable cutting.
That’s a lot more work than taking what the cable company offers and letting them charge your credit card each month. But, at long last, at least we’ve got options.