Sling tv vs Vue

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

If you've been paying attention to the internet today you would have learned that Sling TV is coming to xbox one with a free months trail. But if you're interested in Sling Tv there's better options. For signing up for 3 months you can get a free Amazon Firestick Tv or half off a fire tv.

I have a fire Tv and cant recommend it enough if you have a tv you need netflix, hbo go and other video apps that you may not have a game console on. I'm thinking about signing up for the 3 month deal just to get a fire stick for the bed room.


Sling:    $20.0
PS Vue  $49.00
On price Sling is obviously the less expensive of the two starting off. Both offerings provide the ability to expand the channel lineups through upgrades. More on that later.

Broadcast (Traditional) Networks
Sling No PS Vue Yes
Sling chose not to pursue the rights to the major broadcast networks CBS, NBC, Fox ABC. Though a deal was reached with ABC's parent company Disney to provide a number of channels from that family of networks. Sony will be offering CBS, NBC and Fox but no ABC. My guess is that the three cities were the first three where Sony was able to make deals with all of the local station owners. Sony could be going down the path of cable and satellite companies with protracted fights and blackouts ahead. But at the same time how many Sling TV users wish they could pay 10 dollars more and get three major networks live without purchasing an antenna? This is a win for Sony

Access to popular channels

What's the point of paying for a service with no content that you want to watch? Both offerings bring a number of popular cable channels into the home with Sony delivering a number of channels that Sling does not including USA, SyFy, Fox News Fox Sports 1 & 2, FX, FXX and more. Sling has a smaller lineup but does feature the Turner family including TNT, TBS, CNN, ESPN, ESPN2 and AMC in its most basic package. This is where the two offering start to look very different.

To see Sling Television's packages click here to see PS Vue Packages Click here

Tiered Programming
Programmingtiers have been a staple of traditional Pay TV for years now. We are all familiar with the formula where you get a group of 50-60 channels at one price and move up the lineup at additional cost.

Sony
The Access level which starts at $49.00. It features programming from three major networks Fox, NBC and NBC. Along with that it offers a slate of programming that includes Fox News, CNN, CNBC, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Science Spike and USA, Nick, Nick JR along with many others. It's next tier, $59.00  adds regional sports networks and oddly TCM. One of these things is not like the others. It's Elite tier for $69.00 tops off the service with over 80 channels but does not add the heft of the first two or even the Access level service.

Sling TV
Sling Television seems to have a different take on tiers. The company chooses to offer by far the majority of their most compelling channels on the $20.00 "Best of Live TV" tier and includes TBS, TNT, ESPN, ESPN 2, The Cartoon Network, The Food Network AMC, IFC, CNN and a host of others some less exiting or requested than others. But it is obvious that the initial tier is meant to offer bang for the buck. Its tiers are strictly theme based. Can't find enough movies across the regular lineup Add a movie package for $5.00 with 4 Epix channels and Sundance. There is a family that adds Disney XD amoung a group of 5 channels, A sports package that adds the entire ESPN family along with Universal Sports and Bein Sports. Each of these additional packages are optional and can be added without the addition of another. If a household wants more sports the total monthly bill rises to $25.00 and you don't have to add 14 other channels you don't want. Compared head to head it is obvious that Sling is far closer to an A-la-carte model while PS Vue is trying to play the cable style game.

To see Sling Television's packages click here to see PS Vue Packages Click here

Availability
Sony PS Vue At the moment PS Vue is available on the PS3 and PS 4 with plans to launch on IOS devices (probably not Apple TV) in the future. 3 cities NYC, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Sling
Sling TV is currently available via Android tablets and phones, IOS devices, PC's, Mac Computers, set-top-boxes (Roku, The Amazon Fire TV and soon the Nexus Player) as well as Sony's chief competitor the Xbox One. Would anybody be surprised to find Sling on smart TV's in the future?

Right now Sling Television is taking the Netflix approach to format and Sony is taking an Apple approach. Will placing their service behind the barrier of the $299.00 PlayStation hinder its adoption. In the face of Sling Television and its numerous promotions that essentially give items like the Fire TV Stick and Roku Streaming Stick away and cut the price of both respective premium boxes the Roku 3 and Fire TV in half the strategy looks like a mistake. But maybe PlayStation owners will buy in more than the bevy of other customers who purchased equipment for the sole expressed purpose of streaming.

So Which Service is better?
The media world is lined with the graves of showdown losers. VHS over Beta, Blu-ray over HD DVD, Stone Tablets VS Paper (paper won on portability alone) This fight just got started but I have got to give an early round lead to Sling Television in this fight. Obviously Sony has yet to roll their service out past the borders of NYC, Philadelphia and Chicago but I think that a lot of viewers will balk when they realize it is absent of ESPN or any of its affiliated networks. Very few people actually like having tons of channels they don't watch in order to get three that they do. And this is what Sony Vue recreates without a subscription. Sling Television feels like a product put together after a lot of study and focus groups that asked people what channels they could not do without, or what do they consider worthwhile extras and at what cost. When someone can max out Sling with more channels then they will ever watch for $45.00 including the entire ESPN catalog, 5 premium movie channels, 11 news channels and more while Sony charges 49.00 dollars without even offering ESPN, Fox Sports, USA and many others it seems like a miss match.

http://www.thestreamingadvisor.com/2015/03/19/sling-tv-vs-playstation-vue/

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

link

https://www.sling.com/devices/amazon

[Max King of the Wild]

Sling tv is the price I want but psvue is closer to the product I want...

Can we make this into sling vs vue thread? Since it hasn't gotten any attentio.

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

Sling tv is the price I want but psvue is closer to the product I want...

Can we make this into sling vs vue thread? Since it hasn't gotten any attentio.

Sure. Do you want added to the op?

[Max King of the Wild]

Sure. Do you want added to the op?

pretty good article: http://www.cnet.com/news/playstation-vue-vs-sling-tv-streaming-live-tv-compared/

Hope that works, it's copy and pasted on my phone.

I signed up for 7 day trial of Psvue.... LOVING it.  Very intuitive And easy to use. Nice selection.

[kitler53]

Sling tv is the price I want but psvue is closer to the product I want...

Can we make this into sling vs vue thread? Since it hasn't gotten any attentio.

i agree,.. vue is much more of a product worth buying (at least from what i've read).

sling can't pause or skip commercial or record shows which to me is a no go.  i want my content when i want my content,.. "live" tv is soo fudgy last century imo.  even at $20 it is worthless to me,.. i'll stick with rabbit ear tv for that crud.

[Max King of the Wild]

i agree,.. vue is much more of a product worth buying (at least from what i've read).

sling can't pause or skip commercial or record shows which to me is a no go.  i want my content when i want my content,.. "live" tv is soo fudgy last century imo.  even at $20 it is worthless to me,.. i'll stick with rabbit ear tv for that crud.

there's a 7 day free trial for Chicago area. I did it. Been watching live TV all day. I havent had cable in over ten years. Always watched antenna. So I get the shows I was watching plus gems like Always Sunny and Tosh.0

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

there's a 7 day free trial for Chicago area. I did it. Been watching live TV all day. I havent had cable in over ten years. Always watched antenna. So I get the shows I was watching plus gems like Always Sunny and Tosh.0

So it's a good service then?

[Max King of the Wild]

BTW - I didn't expect to even think about keeping it. But I see CSN is included for the second tier. I am subscribed to NHL center ice for like 150 a season. I loved it when I was out of district but now that I'm back in the area all the games are blacked out because they are on CSN. So because of the Blackhawks I might keep it at 60 a month.

[Max King of the Wild]

So it's a good service then?

i like it. The guide is simple along with the search. You can find anything you're interested in. Adding shows and recording them is also simple.

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

I don't agree with the ending statement posted in the op, but its a lot easier to follow and post her than the cnet article.

[Max King of the Wild]

I think I will subscribe just during hockey season. No contract is really enticing me here. Just subscribe a few months of the year...

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

I think I will subscribe just during hockey season. No contract is really enticing me here. Just subscribe a few months of the year...

Thats the good thing about the service theres no contract, you and pick it and and drop it when you want.

[Legend]

$50 a month? That's cheaper than my cable.

If I ever switch internet providers, I might look into this.

[Max King of the Wild]

$50 a month? That's cheaper than my cable.

If I ever switch internet providers, I might look into this.

cut the cord! I find the second tier the best. It has extra sports and music and cooking and stuff. 60 a month. 3rd tier is a ripoff though. It has like BET Gospel and CNN world. Mostly useless channels and it's 70 a month.