🏈 ESPN to be available to stream online for $20 per month

[planomateo]

@Bamabww That's awesome, give me an update in a few days/weeks of using the service. I'm interested to hear what your experience has been.

I just signed up yesterday, so not sure when I'll get approved. I have a few apple TV's in the house, I've thought about converting over to Amazon Fire TV or the Google Chromecast (now that I have Android phones). Now that people are getting slingTV access, maybe I'll start reading around about their experiences with Apple TV, Chrome Stick, or Amazon Fire TV.

Come to think of it, I have a Google Chromecast I bought a while ago and haven't really used (thought I was going to use it more when I travel and it was only $35). I should start playing with that a bit to kick the tires more.

 

[Bamabww]

@planomateo, The first 24 hours have been great. I watched bits and pieces of the Duke - FSU BB game and it did fine while the wife and daughter surfed the web. They watched the HGTV channel for an hour or so and my Apple TV shut down a couple of times but restarted easily enough but that was aggravating. But the Sling TV app is on my laptop and it gets the signal wirelessly and transfers from the laptop to the Apple TV wirelessly as well so that could have been the problem. I knew up front Apple TV wasn't 100% compatible yet. Sling TV customer service has not replied to my email about that problem yet.

I will probably look into getting a Roku 3 or Google Chromecast to use with Sling TV. My son has a Google Chromecast and loves it. He is still hooked up with DTV until my experiment with Sling TV proves worthwhile.

 

[planomateo]

Sling TV signs up AMC, IFC, and Epix.

https://gigaom.com/2015/03/04/amc-ifc-and-epix-go-live-on-sling-tv/

 

[Bamabww]

Been signed up almost a month now and love it. I bought a Roku 3 and it works fantastic with Sling TV with many more optional channels, some free, some not but still much cheaper than Charter Cable. Try it, you'll like it.

 

[planomateo]

I have sling TV, got it a few days after you. I haven't used it enough to form an opinion at this point. I have found that I can't have two logins simultaneously...kind of a bummer.

 

[Bamabww]

I can't have two logins simultaneously

Bummer indeed. I only have one TV so it's not a problem for me.

 

[planomateo]

100k users in a month.

 

[planomateo]

I'm gearing up to cut the cord in the next few months, still need to find me a good HDTV antenna. I think I'm going with the Winegard FL6550A FlatWave Air Outdoor HDTV Antenna and might buy the Tivo OTA DVR or find an opensourced one I can built.

Not sure I'd pay $36 a month for ESPN, although I'm digging SlingTV thus far.

 

[TerryP]

Not sure I'd pay $36 a month for ESPN, although I'm digging SlingTV thus far.

I realize I jumped on a special with Comcast/Xfinity, but that's half of my cable and Internet bill. (@102Mbps down, HD channels, etc.)

 

[planomateo]

I realize I jumped on a special with Comcast/Xfinity, but that's half of my cable and Internet bill. (@102Mbps down, HD channels, etc.)

I'm paying that for my internet, only 25M down. Can't seen to find a way to get 48M down, tried a few times. Only have two choices - AT&T or SuddenLink (and I've heard SuddenLink is horrible, people in the neighborhood have switched to them from AT&T and with a few months, they've switched back to AT&T). I need to call AT&T to complain about costs again, see if they'll give me a discount.

 

[TerryP]

I need to call AT&T to complain about costs again, see if they'll give me a discount.

Those guys did their best to discount my bundle when I canceled. Still, couldn't touch the deal: not even close on cost or speed. They literally came down to "let's do a home phone, and cell service along with cable in 'net." I'd bet they were still 50-60 bucks off the mark. Hell, got a $250 debit card on top of the pricing...which I used to buy a new cable modem and turned Comcast's back in to them (saving another $10 a month.)

It's so eerily similar to the long distance wars back in the late 80's and early 90's...I don't know how many times I got a check from Ma Bell, MCI, etc. to switch...and did with every check.

Does Sling give you access to Watch ESPN on your mobile devices?

 

[planomateo]

Those guys did their best to discount my bundle when I canceled. Still, couldn't touch the deal: not even close on cost or speed. They literally came down to "let's do a home phone, and cell service along with cable in 'net." I'd bet they were still 50-60 bucks off the mark. Hell, got a $250 debit card on top of the pricing...which I used to buy a new cable modem and turned Comcast's back in to them (saving another $10 a month.)

It's so eerily similar to the long distance wars back in the late 80's and early 90's...I don't know how many times I got a check from Ma Bell, MCI, etc. to switch...and did with every check.

Does Sling give you access to Watch ESPN on your mobile devices?

AT&T has a special right now with UVerse where I'd get $200 or $250 gift card, but the monthly bill is still high. I've just decided I'm cutting the cord...just haven'

I'll be downloading shows (I currently have a digital movie collection of 985 movies last I checked a few days ago, probably twice that in TV episodes), doing HDTV over the air for local channels, and using SlingTV for the ESPN need.

Yes, I can login to Watch ESPN now via my Sling account, which DirecTV didn't provide (but planned for in the future). If I can remember tonight, I'll see how many times I can login, run from mobile and my Apple TV's in the house (I currently have 3).

Edit -- Probably can't stream 3 at the same time. Just tested with two streams... Watch ESPN via the mobile and watch ESPN via Sling TV app on my laptop. They both run for a few mins (appears to be due to buffering/caching) and eventually the last client logged in will get a message that says only one stream. Looking at my account profile is clearly states 1 stream, I don't even see the option of adding another stream for a fee (yet).

 

[planomateo]

Single stream via the WatchESPN app as well. I got an error message stating "You have reached the maximum number of concurrent streams." Which by the way is 1.

So I've confirmed my limit, not really a big deal since I'm the only person that watches sports in the house.

@TerryP see if you can only get a single stream with the app, curious if your TV provider limits this to a single stream.

 

[TerryP]

@planomateo I tried two laptops and a phone, then two phones with a laptop, phone and tablet...no limits on any combination. (Downloaded the app through the store option with Windows 8.)

FWIW, and I know this isn't available to you, but during the first two rounds of the tourney this year I had my TV on one game, and my laptop and tablet on two more at one point. That was through the Xfinity To Go app which gives me access to every channel I get through the cable provider (not to mention On Demand selections.)

 

[rick4bama]

Hey! any of you have satellite (HughesNet)as of way to get on to the Net? I don't have cable any more , but I do have roku3 and was thinking about trying the sling TV. Do you think it would be worth it?

 

[stomp]

What about SEC Network?

 

[planomateo]

$5 more a month gets you SECN, SECN+, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, and a few other channels. See https://www.sling.com/package for more info.

 

[Bamabww]

@rick4bama, don't have Hughesnet but very pleased with my Roku3 and Sling TV

 

[rick4bama]

@rick4bama, don't have Hughesnet but very pleased with my Roku3 and Sling TV

Thanks!

 

[FLTidefan]

I had Excede, which is similar to HughesNet. It works great if you can stay within the 10MB limit they have. I would burn thru that in a few days and be stuck with Internet that was as slow as dial up for the other 27 days. I don't recommend it unless you are a very light Internet user.