Sling Orange vs. Sling Blue: Which Sling TV package is best?

Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

Sling TV does things differently. It’s not like the other live streaming services (also referred to as linear services because everyone’s watching the same thing at the same time as served up by the networks) because it doesn’t just have a single plan. In fact, it’s not even that it has multiple tiers of plans.

No, Sling TV is still as close as you can get to a la carte TV—even though it is also definitely not that. You can’t pick and choose your channels on Sling TV, but you can pick and choose bundles of them.

Sling TV starts with a choice of base plans: Sling Orange and Sling Blue. Neither has anywhere near as many channels as you get from Sling’s competitors. But on the other hand, neither costs anywhere near as much. And therein lies the strategy: Pay for what you want, more or less, and then build out your streaming plan with a series of add-ons called “Extras.”

But which is “better?” Sling Orange or Sling Blue?

As with all things streaming, the real question is this: Which one has the channels you want to watch? The two plans have a good bit of overlap, with some channels shared between the two. But some channels are exclusive to one plan or the other. And that’s when you start to see what Sling’s strategy really is: Getting one track is fine. But getting both is better. And they’re priced to incentivize you to do exactly that.

But back to our question. It’s actually not all that hard to tell which one will be “better” for your needs. If you need sports, you’ll absolutely want to have Sling Orange because it’s the one with ESPN. (And ESPN2, and ESPN3.) If news channels are more important to you, Sling Blue is the way to go because it’s where you’ll find the likes of HNL, MSNBC, and Fox News.

Sling Orange and Sling Blue on the Sling website. — Screenshot

But things get a little complicated from there. FS1 is another channel full of sports, thus the name — Fox Sports 1. And you’ll find Premier League games on Sling on USA. But those channels are only available on Sling Blue. Need Disney Channel or Freeform? They’re on Sling Orange.

And now you see how Sling’s trying to get you just to go ahead and get Sling Orange and Sling Blue at a marginal increase.

To help you actually make a decision — to get just one or both — here’s how the channels actually break down as of early 2024:

Channels exclusive to Sling Orange: Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, FreeForm, and Motor Trend.

Channels that are exclusive to Sling Blue: Bravo, Discovery Channel, E!, FS1, FX, Fox News, HLN, MSNBC, NFL Network, National Geographic, SYFY, TLC, USA, and TruTV.

The following channels are available on either track: A&E, AMC, AXS TV, BBC America, BET, Bloomberg, Charge!, CNN, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Comet, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Local Now, MGM+ Drive-In, Nick Jr., QVC, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, and Vice.

As to which is best for you? It just depends on what you want. Get one. Get both. And enjoy either way.

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