OVERVIEW
We went through each and every channel from Sling TV’s Orange and Blue plans to find out what makes them different. Turns out, despite paying more for Sling Blue ($25/mo.), you’re still going to miss out on channels included in the cheaper Sling Orange ($20/mo.). If you have a hard time deciding, you could also take a look at the Orange + Blue plan ($40/mo.), which is, as the name implies, a combination of the two Sling TV plans.
Winner: It’s a draw
Sling Orang vs. Sling Blue—overall comparison
| Plan | Price | Channels | Details |
| Sling Orange | $20/mo. | 25+ | View Plan |
| Sling Blue | $25/mo. | 45 | View Plan |
Sling Orange vs. Sling Blue
Both Sling Orange and Sling Blue have exclusive channels.
At $20 a month, Sling Orange is the cheapest TV streaming service available. However, Sling Orange is cheap for a reason—it has only 20 channels.
The 20 channels available in Sling Orange include some of the most popular cable channels, such as AMC, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, CNN, Disney Channel, ESPN, TNT, and more. We even found some niche channels on Sling Orange we’d like to check out, like Viceland. (We’ve heard good things about Viceland’s new show, What Would Diplo Do?). But surprisingly, some channels in Sling Orange aren’t in Sling Blue, which has more than 40 channels.
Disney and ESPN are only on Sling Orange
The biggest difference between Sling Orange and Sling Blue (besides the total channel count) is that Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and Freeform are available on Sling Orange but not on the more expensive Sling Blue. So even though you’re paying $5 a month more for Sling Blue, you don’t get all the channels included in Sling Orange.
We think that’s strange because every other TV service (cable, satellite, etc.), will include the same channels from a less expensive plan when you opt for a more expensive plan—you pay for the “premier” plan, you get all the channels in the “basic” plan too. We’re not sure why Disney doesn’t play nice with Sling Blue (Disney owns ESPN and Freeform), but you won’t find a cheaper way to watch Phineas and Ferb than with Sling Orange.
Fun fact
NBC and FOX are only on Sling Blue
You’d think channels like NBC and FOX would be in Sling Orange. After all, they’re national broadcast channels (broadcast over the air for free), and other TV services include them in the most basic (cheap) TV plans, but for some reason NBC and FOX are available only in Sling Blue.
If your must-watch shows include Brooklyn Nine Nine (Fox) or This Is Us (NBC), you’ll want to go with Sling Blue over Sling Orange.
Sling Orange vs. Sling Blue—channel lineup
See every channel in Sling Orange and Sling Blue.
Besides Disney, ESPN, FOX, and NBC, there are a handful of other channel peculiarities in Sling Orange’s and Sling Blue’s plans. So to make sense of each plan’s channels, we’ve listed them in their respective plans.
| CHANNEL | Orange | Blue |
| A&E | Yes | Yes |
| AMC | Yes | Yes |
| AXS TV | Yes | Yes |
| BBC America | Yes | Yes |
| BET | No | Yes |
| Bloomberg TV | Yes | Yes |
| Bravo | No | Yes |
| Cartoon Network / Adult Swim | Yes | Yes |
| Cheddar | Yes | Yes |
| CNN | Yes | Yes |
| Comedy Central | Yes | Yes |
| Disney Channel | Yes | No |
| El Rey | No | Yes |
| Epix Drive-in | Yes | Yes |
| ESPN | Yes | No |
| ESPN2 | Yes | No |
| ESPN3 | Yes | No |
| Flama | Yes | Yes |
| Food Network | Yes | Yes |
| Fox | No | Yes |
| Fox Sports regionals | No | Yes |
| Freeform | Yes | No |
| FS1 | No | Yes |
| FS2 | No | Yes |
| FX | No | Yes |
| FXX | No | Yes |
| Galavision | Yes | Yes |
| HGTV | Yes | Yes |
| History | Yes | Yes |
| IFC | Yes | Yes |
| Lifetime | Yes | Yes |
| Local Now | Yes | Yes |
| Nat Geo Wild | No | Yes |
| National Geographic | No | Yes |
| NBC | No | Yes |
| NBCSN | No | Yes |
| Newsy | Yes | Yes |
| NFL Network | No | Yes |
| Syfy | No | Yes |
| TBS | Yes | Yes |
| TNT | Yes | Yes |
| Travel Channel | Yes | Yes |
| Tribeca Shortlist | Yes | Yes |
| TruTV | No | Yes |
| Unimas | No | Yes |
| Univision | No | Yes |
| USA Network | No | Yes |
| Viceland | Yes | Yes |
Q: Looking for more channels?
We mentioned FOX and NBC already, but we didn’t discuss their respective regional sports network (RSN) channels. If you’re into sports, you’ll take the RSN channels into consideration. But if you’re having a tough time deciding between Sling Orange and Sling Blue, you do have another option.
The third option: Sling Orange and Sling Blue together
Sling’s Orange + Blue plan is just what it sounds like (Orange and Blue together).
| Plan | Price | Channels | Details |
| Orange + Blue | $40/mo. | 50 | View Plan |
Maybe all the exclusive channels in Sling Orange and Sling Blue are there to convince you to get Sling TV’s Orange + Blue plan. It’s not a bad deal—$40/mo. for 45 channels—but it all comes down to what’s right for you. Some of us just want a way to watch ESPN wherever we go (Sling Orange), and some of us want something to replace cable altogether (Orange + Blue).
Q: What about the competition?
Summary—Sling Orange vs. Sling Blue
Sling Orange and Sling Blue both have exclusive channels, so it comes down to what you prefer. But if you can’t decide and don’t mind the price, just go with Sling TV’s Orange + Blue plan to get it all.
- Sling Orange: It has ESPN, Disney, and Freeform, and only one person can watch at a time.
- Sling Blue: It has FOX, NBC, and about twenty more channels than Sling Orange. Also, three people can watch it at the same time.
- Sling Orange + Blue: It’s got the best of both worlds for a feasible price.
- Sling TV Review: You can read our full-length review of Sling TV here.
If there’s something we missed or you still have questions, let us know.