5 Best Live TV Streaming Services (2025), Tested and Reviewed

I won’t mince words: Sling TV is confusing. It has by far the most confusing plans and add-ons of any live TV streaming service I’ve tested. There are a handful of basic plans, none of which cover the scale of Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV, or DirecTV, as well as about half a dozen add-ons to bring the channel roster up to par. This modular approach to shopping is annoying, although it does mean you can save quite a bit of money by only picking up what you need.

The core of the sling is blue and orange. The Blue plan focuses on news and entertainment, while the Orange plan ditches news like MSNBC and CNN in favor of an array of ESPN channels. It’s clear that Sling wants people to choose the Orange and Blue plans that combine these channel lineups. It’s about 30 percent cheaper to get them together than buying them separately (and about $30 cheaper than other providers).

The Orange and Blue plan, which I recommend for most people, covers the main bases, but it gets lost in some of the secondary channels available elsewhere. For example, you’ll get the ESPN channel and Fox Sports 1, but not Fox Sports 2 or the Big Ten Network. You will need an add-on for them.

Most of Sling’s add-ons are an additional $6 per month, minus the Sports add-on, which is $15. Add-ons fill in the gaps depending on what you’re most interested in Entertainment add-ons include Cartoon Network and MTV, for example, while movie add-ons come with Grit, TCM and FXX. You can pick up all the extras for $27 per month with Blue and Orange or $21 per month with other plans. Even with the full package, however, Sling comes in at a few dollars more than YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV, and there’s an opportunity to cut some packages to lower your monthly price even further.

As for apps, Sling has almost everything you could want Roku, Samsung, LG, Apple, and Google TV are all supported, as are Cox, Xfinity, and even TiVo streaming boxes. Mobile apps are available, and there’s an app for Xbox (though not PlayStation 5).

While not as responsive as YouTube TV, the app felt smooth to me TCL QM8K. You can create profiles in the guide, view upcoming games and favorite channels to make them easy to find