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Sling TV in Canada

23K views 23 replies 15 participants last post by  wmjfoley85 
#1 ·
Is anyone using the new Sling TV service launched by Dish here in Canada? Apparently it works if you use Unblock-us (Perhaps it works with other similar services) except for ABC Family and Disney.

For Canadian dying to get access to ESPN this could be there solution and it could allow you to cut the cord.

FYI - Sling TV is a new service offered by DishTV that essentially streams live TV channels over the internet. It is a good option for cord cutters as it is a good way to get access to sports content. One downside is that you only get one stream per account so it wouldn't work as a cable replacement in a house with multiple TVs.
 
#3 ·
It is kind of like Netflix as it is an Over the Top video service and doesn't require a cable or satellite subscription as it is meant for people that don't have those types of subscriptions. It is pretty much the cheapest "cable" subscription that you can get at $20/month.
 
#5 ·
USTV is decent and offers more channels for the price. However, you get Adult Swim, ESPN1 and ESPN2, ABC Family, and some others that are not offered in USTV's basic package.

I got my SlingTV invite early last week and I am in Toronto, Canada. I have no issues getting any of the channels with Unlocator. My trial is up on the 14th of January and I will not be subscribing. The current available channels doesn't really reflect a lot of what I want to watch. I have spoken with their team about my concerns. Channels wanted such as Discovery, History, and Fuse, along with many others offered in a truly pay per channel package. More channels are coming but Discovery is not in that list for anything within the next 6 months.
 
#7 ·
I've been testing it (though in the US, not through Unblock-us). Overall it's a step in the right direction but I don't think it's quite there yet.

I ran into a few little bugs: for example once it told me I was watching CNN though really it was HGTV being shown.

I did the "low bandwidth test" at a hotel. In that test Netflix shines and HBOGO for example flounders rebuffering. Sling TV did pretty well giving me a low PQ and pixelated but consistent picture rather than pausing, buffering, or reloading. On a high bandwidth internet connection the PQ was excellent.

From a usability perspective I was using the Roku app. Didn't try with the FireTV or Nexus Player. But I wouldn't recommend Sling TV without one of those. On the Roku some of the button mappings were the opposite of what I would have done. For example, the back button is "last channel" while * is back.

Bottom line is that it works pretty well but the channel selection is limited for my needs for the $20. If it was pick&pay and I could pick any 6 channels out of a larger selection for $20 for example then it would be more attractive to me.

And like so many other services, having the Roku is critical IMO. I've found that at my house the Roku has pretty much replaced the traditional cable box or sat receiver. I now have a Roku on every TV and that's the box that gives me Netflix, OTA via TabloTV, and Sling TV.

For now it was an interesting test but I'll be cancelling.
 
#9 ·
Now that U.S. Netflix is a mess, I was thinking of trying this out. I read somewhere if you use it on your Xbox One it can be detected and canceled. I don't know how true that is however. Roku 3 apparently it works well. Considering none of the Canadian streaming providers are on my box of choice, I owe it to myself to check this out I'm thinking lol!
 
#14 · (Edited)
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