Sling TV vs. Hulu Plus Live TV: which live TV streamer should you choose?

1 day ago

Picking a streaming work isn’t arsenic easy arsenic it utilized to be. With nan astir popular streaming services delivering a operation of classical favorites, and caller original content, viewers person much choices than ever before. Of nan galore live TV streaming services retired there, Hulu Plus Live TV and Sling TV some present an fantabulous experience.

Both whitethorn person nan channels you want, astatine a value you’re consenting to pay, but they each person their ain perks. Sling TV is easy nan much affordable of nan two, and offers up a assortment of add-ons to their channels to let you immoderate grade of customizing your viewing. On nan different hand, Hulu Plus Live TV has an ace up its sleeve, acknowledgment to nan bundles it has available.

Let’s return a look.

Plans and pricing

At their astir basic, Sling TV and Hulu Plus Live TV activity a small differently. Sling TV has a mates of tracks of channels you’ll take from up front. There’s Sling Orange and Sling Blue. They costs $40 and $5 per month, respectively, connected their own, aliases $60 if you get some of them. There are a mates twelve overlapping channels, truthful Sling TV is really benignant of steering you that way. You’ll past person a number of add-ons called Sling “Extras,” pinch which you tin adhd further channels successful a number of categories.

Perfect for watching NFL, NBA, and more, you tin people $10 disconnected your first period of unrecorded TV pinch Sling TV. Channels disposable see ABC, NBC, and Fox, arsenic good arsenic ESPN, Bravo, FX, National Geographic, and moreover TNT.

Hulu Plus Live TV is simply a different benignant of animal. Start pinch nan name. For $83 per period you’ll get Hulu Plus Live TV’s unrecorded channels. And you besides get Hulu’s immense on-demand catalog, from caller movies and series, to aged favorites, pinch caller titles coming and going each month. That successful and of itself is simply a beautiful large differentiator and a apt logic why Hulu Plus Live TV is doubly arsenic celebrated arsenic Sling TV.

But past there’s nan trump paper known arsenic nan Disney Bundle. Subscribe to Hulu Plus Live TV, and you’ll automatically get ESPN+ — which has each kinds of unrecorded sports (and original series) you can’t get anyplace other — and Disney+, which is location to each things Disney, Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic, and Star Wars.

That’s a large woody and is thing that nary different live-streaming work has.

Channels

This really is wherever nan rubber meets nan road, arsenic they say. If a streaming work doesn’t person nan channels you want to watch, everything other is moot. As always, you’ll want to cheque pinch nan work to make judge each channels are disposable wherever you live. But here’s really things break down arsenic of Autumn 2024:

The Sling TV guideline arsenic seen connected a TV.

Sling TV channels

Channels exclusive to Sling Orange: Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN4K, FreeForm, and Motor Trend.

Channels that are exclusive to Sling Blue: Bravo, Discovery Channel, E!, FS1, FS1 4K, FX, Fox News, HLN, MSNBC, NFL Network, National Geographic, SYFY, TLC, USA, and TruTV.

The pursuing channels are disposable connected 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, Sling scapes, Sling scapes2, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, and Vice.

Hulu Plus Live TV channels

A&E, ABC, ABC News Live, ACC Network, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, BET, Big Ten Network, Bloomberg Television, Boomerang, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS, CBS News, CBS Sports Network, Cheddar News, CMT, CNBC, CNN, CNN International, Comedy Central, COZI, Crime & Investigation, CW, DABL, Discovery, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD,

E!, ESPN, ESPN College Extra, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, Food Network, Fox, Fox Business, Fox News, Freeform, FS1, FS2, FX, FXM, FXX, FYI, Golf Channel, HGTV, History, HLN, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Lifetime Movies, Localish, Military History, MotorTrend, MSNBC, MTV,

NASA, Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic, NBC, NBC News Now, NBCLX, News Nation, NFL Network, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Olympic Channel, OWN, Oxygen, Paramount Network, Pop, QVC, SEC Network, Smithsonian Channel, Start TV, SYFY, TBS, TCM, Telemundo, TLC, TNT, Travel Channel, Tru TV, TV Land, Universal Kids, USA, VH-1, Vice.

Local channels

One characteristic important to a batch of streaming subscribers is nan expertise to watch your section broadcast channels. In that sense, Hulu Plus Live TV decidedly wins retired here.

While things tin occasionally alteration depending connected wherever you live, Hulu Plus Live TV should person nan awesome broadcast networks available: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and PBS.

Sling TV does person section channels, but they are disposable only successful a constricted number of markets. Many of those markets person a awesome galore group successful them, yes. But if you’re extracurricular of those markets, you’re retired of luck. And complicating things further is that not each channels are disposable successful those markets.

And that’s earlier we moreover get to CBS, which isn’t disposable astatine each connected Sling TV.

Instead, you’ll find that Sling TV often will push you toward thing called AirTV, which fundamentally is Sling’s branded over-the-air tuner. You connect an antenna and scan for channels, and past your section broadcast networks will look alongside each nan streaming channels connected your Sling TV plan. While we’re large fans of over-the-air TV, this highlights a beautiful large discrepancy betwixt Sling TV and its competitors.

Add-ons

Both Hulu Plus Live TV and Sling TV person a number of optional add-ons. Sling TV will look to person acold much because of its structure, pinch nan lighter Sling Orange and Sling Blue plans bolstered by nan “Extras” that tin beryllium utilized to soma retired nan remainder of your channels.

Sling TV besides has options for further signaling retention and a patient slate of premium channels.

The add-ons disposable for Hulu With Life TV possibly are a spot much meager, but that’s balanced by nan truth that you get much channels up beforehand pinch your subscription — and don’t hide astir Disney+ and ESPN+, which are included for free. Premium add-ons are constricted to Cinemax, Max, Showtime, and STARZ.

Also disposable connected Hulu are nan pursuing add-ons:

Sports: FanDuel TV, FanDuel Racing, MAV TV, NFL RedZone, Outdoor Channels, Sportsman Channel, Strike Zone, & The Tennis Channel

Entertainment: American Heroes Channel, BET Her, Boomerang, Crime & Investigation, CNBC World, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, Hallmark Drama, Military History, MTV Classic, MTV2, NickToons, Science, TeenNick

Español: CNN Español, Discovery en Español, Discovery Familia, ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, History Channel de Español, Hogar de HGTV, NBC Universo, The Weather Channel en Español.

Total subscribers

Hulu Plus Live TV is nan second-largest unrecorded work successful nan U.S., having vanished 2023 pinch 4.6 cardinal subscribers. That puts it astatine a spot much than half nan size of YouTube TV and much than doubly arsenic ample arsenic Sling TV, which wrapped up nan twelvemonth pinch 2.06 cardinal subscribers.

While Hulu Plus Live TV surely has much subscribers, it’s besides suffered nan aforesaid benignant of stagnation arsenic Sling TV — though astatine slightest it’s been trending upward, albeit slowly. Hulu Plus Live TV vanished 2022 pinch 4.4 cardinal subscribers, up conscionable 400,000 from nan erstwhile year-end.

Sling TV, meanwhile, hasn’t seen much than 2.5 cardinal subscribers since nan second portion of 2021.