Sling Blue: Price, Channels, And Everything Else Worth Knowing

Sling TV offers two main plans to choose from. Sling Orange and Sling Blue. There is also the option to combine these two plans together through the Sling Orange & Blue plan. Even though the combined package is a quick and easy way to increase the selection of available live TV channels, it also increases the cost as well.

While Sling Blue is likely to be the right live TV package for some homes, it won’t be the best option for all homes. To help figure out whether it is the right plan for you, here’s a closer look at everything you get (and don’t get) with Sling Blue.

How Much Sling Blue Costs Each Month

A Sling Blue subscription currently costs $46 a month. When Sling Blue first became available, it was priced at just $25 a month. However, Sling Blue has seen a number of increases over the years, taking the cost up to its current $46 per month rate.

The first thing to note about the price of Sling Blue is that it isn’t any more expensive than Sling Orange. Well, in most places. Sling does offer access to ABC in select locations and, in these locations, an additional $5 a month is applied to the cost, taking the minimum cost up to $51 a month.

If opting to bundle Orange and Blue together, the combined plan increases the cost to $61 a month, and $66 in areas where ABC is available.

In return for the $46/mo, Sling Blue subscribers get access to more than 45 live TV channels, 50 hours of cloud DVR, TV Everywhere support, and the ability to stream on up to three devices at the same time.

Subscribers also get access to a library of on-demand movies and TV shows that are available to watch at any time.

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Channels Included With Sling Blue

Compared to Sling Orange, Sling Blue is the better value plan overall. This is due to Sling Blue unlocking access to more than 45 live TV channels. For reference, Sling Orange unlocks access to more than 30 live TV channels.

Another notable difference is that Sling Blue is often considered to be ‘the NBC plan,’ making it ideal for those that want access to the NBC family of live TV channels.

Sling Blue Channel List

• ABC (select locations)
• AMC
• AXS TV
• BBC America
• BET
• Bloomberg Television
• Bravo
• Cartoon Network
• CHARGE!
• CNN
• Comedy Central
• Comet
• Discovery Channel
• E!
• Food Network
• Fox (select locations)
• Fox News
• Fox Sports 1
• Fuse
• FX
• HGTV
• History Channel
• HLN
• IFC
• Investigation Discovery
• Lifetime
• Local Now
• MGM+ Drive-In
• National Geographic
• MSNBC
• NBC (select locations)
• NFL Network
• Nick Jr.
• QVC
• Sling scapes
• Sling scapes 2
• Syfy
• TBS
• TLC
• TNT
• Travel Channel
• truTV
• USA
• Vice

While Sling Blue is the better option in terms of the number of channels, and certainly for those that want access to NBC, USA, and similar, it is missing some channels.

Notable, Sling Blue doesn’t provide access to any of the ESPN channels. If access to ESPN is important to you then Sling Orange is going to be the better option.

Even in terms of NBC, Sling Blue doesn’t provide access to local NBC stations in every area. As a result, it is important to check whether access to the local NBC channel is available before signing up.

The same is also true of Fox. While Sling Blue is the only Sling plan that offers access to the Fox family of channels, local Fox stations are also only available in select markets. Once again, consumers will want to check if they get access to their local Fox channel before signing up to Sling Blue.

Sling Blue Add-Ons And Premium Channels

If the standard Sling Blue plan is not quite good enough, it might be worth considering bundling add-ons to expand the channel lineup.

There are seven Extra add-ons available with Sling Blue, and while Sports Extra is the most expensive at $11 a month, the others typically cost $6 a month each.

The exact number and selection of channels depends on the add-on chosen. Each add-on is themed and adds a group of similar channels.

For example, Entertainment Extra adds entertainment channels, including Paramount Network, while News Extra adds a variety of news channels, such as CNBC and Newsmax.

Below is an overview of all the add-ons available with Sling Blue, including the channels bundled with each one.

For those that want to save by bundling multiple add-ons together, Sling offers two options – the 4 Extras Deal and the Total TV Deal

The 4 Extras Deal add-on costs $13 a month and brings together Kids Extra, News Extra, Lifestyle Extra, and Entertainment Extra. The Total TV Deal add-on costs $21 a month and not only unlocks access to all seven Extra add-ons, but the DVR Plus add-on as well.

In addition to the Extra add-ons, Sling also offers a DVR Plus add-on. Although the base Sling Blue package comes with a 50-hour cloud DVR, the DVR Plus add-on unlocks access to an unlimited DVR for an additional $5 each month.

Is Sling Blue Right For You?

Sling Blue unlocks access to more than 45 live TV channels for a minimum of $46 a month, making it a good option for those looking to save on the cost of live TV.

Whether it is the right Sling plan for you is likely to come down to whether you want access to your local ABC, Fox and NBC channels.

Even then, these local stations are not automatically available everywhere through Sling TV, so it is worth confirming their availability before signing up.

Local channels aside, one of the main reasons to avoid Sling Blue is the absence of the three ESPN channels. If ESPN is a must for you, Sling Orange is likely to be the better Sling plan for you.

When choosing between Sling base plans, another consideration is whether the live TV subscription is going to be shared with other people, and especially when there’s an increased likelihood of more than one person using the service at the same time.

Although Sling Blue can be streamed on up to three devices at the same time, Sling Orange only allows live TV to be streamed on one device at a time. This makes Sling Blue the better choice for busier households.

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