Sling TV price, channels, subscriptions and plans: Orange, Blue and add-ons

Sling TV channels guide
(Image credit: Sling TV)

If you're looking for a low-cost way to stream from various cable channels, then Sling TV could be the way to go. It's one of the most affordable live TV streaming services, as well as one of the longest-serving on the market.

A live TV streaming service lets you cut the cord and watch from various cable channels using the internet, as long as you have a compatible device like a computer, smart TV or tablet. Sling TV was one of the first around and it continues to be a popular choice for those looking to leave the cable behind.

It's fair to consider Sling TV the grandfather of the streaming industry, but the streamer is more modern nowadays. It's a shiny TV streaming service that's one of the most popular in the US, though it has plenty of rivals like the premium Fubo, entertainment-friendly Hulu with Live TV, popular YouTube TV and affordable Philo TV.

Sling TV's flexibility is both good and bad — the channel options are numerous, but you'll have to do a little homework to make sure you're getting the channels you want. Oh well, that's what sites like What to Watch are for!

You'll also need to keep track of the Sling TV plan you're building because it's easy to rack up the costs and end up spending as much as you would with any of the other streaming services. Don't forget, although the Sling TV free trial has stopped, there's a great deal for new customers which means you can try it out for a reduced price ($30 instead of $40) for the first month. 

Here's everything you need to know about Sling TV.

Sling TV price

The Sling TV price is a little complicated as you can pick different plans, with two different ones but also a combined plan if you want as many channels as possible. We've got a breakdown of the various Sling TV packages here, including the prices, channels and perks.

Those two Sling TV plans are Sling Orange and Sling Blue. You'll mostly find different channels in each, though there are a handful of common channels. You'll want to look through each plan to see if one has more channels that you want than the other. For example, If all you care about is ESPN and ESPN2, you can get those in the Sling Orange plan and not have to pay for anything else.

  • Sling Orange or Sling Blue: you can pick either the Sling Orange or Sling Blue plan (new customers pay $30 for the first month and $40 a month after that.)
  • Sling Orange + Blue Bundle: you can choose to get both plans which cost $55 monthly (new customers get 50% off, so $27.50 for the first month and $55 a month after that.)
  • Extras: each track has seven additional "Extras" that give you more channels, at various pricing points.

If you live in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area, you'll have to pay an extra $5 on top of the above costs — this is for access to local news channels like ABC and Fox.

Sling Orange channels

  • There are fewer Sling Orange channels than in the Sling Blue plan. But, if you're focused on sports, this is probably where you'll want to start — Sling Orange is the plan that gets you ESPN.
  • With Sling Orange you can only stream on a single device at a time. Like all of the Sling plans, it comes with a free 50-hour DVR.
  • Here are all the channels you get with Sling Orange:
    A&E, AMC, AXS TV, BBC America, BET, Bloomberg Television, Cartoon Network, Cheddar, CNN, Comedy Central, Comet, Disney Channel, Epix Drive-In, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, Food Network, Freeform, Fuse, HGTV, History, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Local Now, Motortrend, Newsy, Nick Jr., Stadium, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, Viceland.

Sling Orange extras

If you've got the Sling Orange plan, you can add on as many (or as few) of these "extras" as you like. All prices are monthly.

  • Orange Sports Extra ($11 if you have either Sling Orange or Blue, $15 a month if you have both): ACC Network, ACCNX, beIN sports, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, Longhorn Network, MLB Network, MLB Strike Zone, NBA TV, NHL Network, PAC 12 Network, SEC Network, SEC+, Tennis Channel
  • Orange Comedy Extra ($6): CMT, feTV, Game Show Network, Laff, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Paramount Network, Revolt TV, truTV, TV Land
  • Orange News Extra ($6): BBC World News, CGTN, Euronews, HLN, News18, Law & Crime, Newsmax, NewsNation, RT America, SCI, Weather Nation,
  • Orange Lifestyle Extra ($6): Cooking Channel, DIY Network, FYI, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Drama, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Lifetime Movie Network, VH1, WE TV
  • Orange Hollywood Extra ($6): Cinemoi, GRIT, HDNet Movies, H&I, REELZ, Sundance TV, TCM,
  • Orange Heartland Extra ($6): American Heroes, Destination America, Great American Country, INSP, Outdoor Channel, PixL, Pursuit, RFD-TV, Ride TV, Sportsman Channel, The Cowboy Channel, World Fishing Network
  • AMC+ ($7): AMC+, Shudder, Sundance Now, IFC Films Unlimited

Sling Blue channels

  • Sling Blue has around 12 extra channels (give or take) over Sling Orange. It has more news and entertainment options than sports channels 
  • With Sling Blue you also get to stream on up to three devices at once — useful if everyone in the house wants to watch something different .
  • The Sling Blue channels in the base plan:
    A&E, AMC, AXS TV, BBC America, BET, Bloomberg Television, Bravo, Cartoon Network, Cheddar, CNN, Comedy Central, Comet, Discovery, E!, EPIX Drive-In, Food Network, Fox, Fox News, FS1, Fuse, FX, HGTV, History, HLN, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Local Now, MSNBC, National Geographic, NBC, NBCSN, Newsy, NFL Network, Nick Jr., Stadium, SYFY, TBS, TLC, TNT, Travel Channel, TRU TV, USA, Viceland.

Sling Blue extras

These are all of the channels available in the Extras on the Sling Blue track. If you've got the Sling Blue plan, you can add on as many (or as few) of these as you like. All prices are monthly.

  • Blue Sports Extra ($11 if you have either Sling Orange or Blue, $15 a month if you have both): beIN Sports, FS2, Golf Channel, MLB Network, MLB Strike Zone, NBA TV, NFL RedZone, NHL Network, Olympic Channel, PAC-12 Network, Tennis Channel, Big Ten Network
  • Blue Comedy Extra ($6): CMT, feTV, Game Show Network, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Paramount Network, Revolt TV, TV Land
  • Blue Kids Extra ($6): BabyTV, Boomerang, ducktv, NickToons, TeenNick
  • Blue News Extra ($6): BBC World News, CGTN, CNBC, Euronews, France 24 (English), Law &Crime, News18, Newsmax, NewsNation, NDTV 24x7, RT America, SCI, Weather Nation
  • Blue Lifestyle Extra ($6): Cooking Channel, DIY Network, FYI, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Drama, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Lifetime Movie Network, Oxygen, VH1, WE TV
  • Blue Hollywood Extra ($6): Cinemoi, FXX, FXM, GRIT, H&I, HDNet Movies, REELZ, Sundance TV, TCM
  • Blue Heartland Extra ($6): American Heroes, Destination America, Great American Country, INSP, Outdoor Channel, PixL, Pursuit, RFD-TV, Ride TV, Sportsman Channel, The Cowboy Channel, World Fishing Network, Nat Geo Wild

Additional extras for both Orange and Blue packages include:

  • The Total TV Deal ($21), which provides all extra channels and cloud DVR space
  • 4 Extras Deal ($13), offering Kids Extra, News Extra, Lifestyle Extra and Comedy Extra for half the price of all four
  • NBA League Pass ($28.99), allows you to watch every out-of-market game
  • NBA Team Pass ($17.99), choose 1 out-of-market team to follow
  • DVR Plus ($5) gives you up to 200 hours of DVR recording.

Sling TV channels in the living room

(Image credit: Sling TV)

Premium channels on Sling TV

Sling also has a couple dozen "premium" channels which you can subscribe to individually. They are:

  • AcornTV
  • all blk
  • CONtv ($5)
  • CineFest ($5)
  • CineMoi ($3)
  • CocinaON
  • Comedy Dynamics ($5)
  • CONTV 
  • The Country Network Plus
  • CuriosityStream ($3)
  • DOGTV ($5)
  • DOX ($3)
  • Docurama ($5)
  • Dove Channel ($5)
  • EPIX ($5)
  • FlixLatino ($3)
  • Grokker ($7)
  • Hallmark Movies Now ($6)
  • Here TV ($8)
  • Hopster ($5)
  • Magellan TV
  • Magnolia Selects ($5)
  • Monsters and Nightmares ($3)
  • Outside TV Features ($5)
  • Pantaya ($6)
  • PlayKids
  • STARZ ($9)
  • Showtime ($10)
  • Shudder
  • SonyLIV
  • Stingray Karaoke ($7)
  • Stingray Qello ($8)
  • Sundance Now
  • Tastemade+
  • The Country Network ($3)
  • True Royalty
  • Tumblebooks TV
  • UP Faith & Family ($5)
  • VSiN ($4)
  • Warriors and Gangsters ($3)

Spanish-language and International plans on Sling

Sling TV also has a number of international options available.

Spanish-language plans include:

  • Best of Spanish TV ($10): UNIVERSO, Discovery en Espanol, History en Español, Estrella TV, Azteca, beIN SPORTS en Español, Discovery Familia, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, Cinelatino, Cine Sony, Pasiones, Vme Kids, PX Sports, NTN24, BabyTV Español, ¡HOLA! TV, Nat Geo Mundo, Tarima TV, Nuestra Vision, France 24 en Español, El Financiero Bloomberg TV
  • México ($10): Canal Once, CBTV Michoacán, Multimedios Televisión, AZ Clic, TeleFórmula, Milenio Televisión, AZ Cinema, Teleritmo, Video Rola, AZ Corazón, Cinema Dinamita, Mexicanal
  • Caribe ($10): WAPA America, CubaMax, Telemicro, TV Quisqueya, Dominican View, Supercanal Caribe, Teleuniverso, Cinelatino, Pasiones
  • Sudamérica ($10): Caracol, Nuestra Tele, NTN24, RCN Novelas, TV Venezuela, EVTV, Ecuavisa Internacional, Telefe Internacional, Todo Noticias, El Trece Internacional, TyC Sports, Bolivia TV, Canal Sur, Estudio 5, A3 Series
  • Centroamérica ($10): Centroamerica TV, Multimedios Costa Rica, Tele El Salvador
  • España ($10): TV Española Internacional, Antena 3, A3Cine, A3 Series
  • Sling Deportes ($5): beIN SPORTS, TyC Sports, Nuestra Tele

Other international TV packages on Sling TV include:

About Sling TV DVR

Sling now offers 50 hours of DVR for free, whichever package you have.

If you need more, you can pay $5 a month for the enhanced "DVR Plus." That'll get you 200 hours of recording capability. If you go over that, however, you'll be able to "protect" your recordings so that they won't completely disappear. (Anyone who previously got 10 hours free now has 50, and anyone who previously paid for 50 hours now has 200.)

The majority of channels on Sling TV can now be recorded, with the exception of some digital offerings like ESPN3 or ACC Network Extra.

Does Sling TV stream in 4K?

Nope. Not yet.

Does Sling have free movies and shows?

Sling TV offers 100 live channels and over 40,000 movies and shows for free (you'll get ads with these, obviously). The selection of free titles isn't super exciting (don't expect any recent hits) but if you're stuck for cash then you might find a reality TV show or older comedy to pass the time. 

All you need to access the free content is to sign up for a free Sling TV account.

How to subscribe to Sling TV

  1. Head on over to sling.com/signup
  2. Enter your email address
  3. Enter a unique, strong password.
  4. Choose whether you want Sling Orange, Sling Blue, or Both. 5. Scroll through the rest of the page for the Extras options, premiums, and international options.
  5. Click "Continue."
  6. Enter your billing information.
  7. Check out.
Tom Bedford
Streaming and Ecommerce Writer

Tom is the streaming and ecommerce writer at What to Watch, covering streaming services in the US and UK. His goal is to help you navigate the busy and confusing online video market, to help you find the TV, movies and sports that you're looking for without having to spend too much money.