Today we take a deep dive into Sling TV with Jimshade Chaudhari, VP of Product Marketing and Management who joined me on my Stream On podcast. We talk about both the short term and long term goals they have at Sling TV.
We get at the heart of why Sling TV has been so successful and it starts with the fact they were the first to offer cable networks to the streaming video world. Meanwhile, they remain very cost effective (cheap) despite increased competition from DirecTV Now, Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV and, Sony PlayStation Vue.
Sling TV's entry-level Orange package ($20 per month) offers one stream at a time, while its $25 Sling Blue includes three streams at once and its $40 Orange + Blue service allows four streams at once.
Being the original OTT provider of live cable network content Sling TV quickly embraced the streaming media world and built great apps for Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, to name a few of the boxes that play the service.
Also, a big plus is that it works on nearly every smart device including of course smartphones and tablets, plus laptops.
The game changer for Sling TV might just be the awesome Cloud DVR service. Unlike the competition the Sling TV DVR, has plenty of cool features, including the ability to protect recordings from deletion. While that has long since been a feature found on traditional hardware-based DVRs, cloud DVRs provided by streaming services have not offered the same option.
Here are a few topics we covered on the podcast which you can listen to right here.
Williams – You guys were the game changers when you bought the live TV to the streaming world.
Chaudhari - We do think of ourselves as game changers. We were the first company to bring to the streaming market what we felt was very strong and attractive ala carte service to our customers. We allow them to choose the packages they want at a very reasonable price. We also are big on listening to what our customers want and then taking that feedback and constantly improving our product.
Williams – So, you started the marketing to a group of young people who were not looking to spend money on cable or satellite. But you found another group that wanted your service because they were fed up with cable.
Chaudhari – Yes, when we launched the service we were focused on the Millennials, or as we call them in the business “The cord Nevers.” They grew up on Netflix and Amazon but were never cable subscribers. We thought that with a chance to sample live streaming channels they might enjoy it.
We were pleased that they embraced the streaming option and thus far they have been very happy with Sling TV.
But then we started to see the “Cord Cutters,” suddenly discovering our product. These are the cable or satellite subscribers that were looking for an option to drop cable but still get the channels they love. We were there and benefited from the “Cord Cutters,” who have embraced our service.
Williams – You have a very impressive listing of channels in multiple languages. Talk about that area of Sling TV if you will?
Chaudhari – We offer over 300 channels in 22 languages which is something we are proud of to be sure. Our goal is always to find a channel that will appeal to everyone looking for quality live streaming content no matter what language it may be in.
Many thanks to Jimshade for being our guest and I strongly suggest that you take the time to try the service out on a free trial. If you are looking for streaming live TV that includes ESPN and plenty of interesting options not to mention the world-class DVR, then try Sling TV free.
As always we want your comments and your questions, so leave your feedback below.