Sling TV vs. DIRECTV NOW

OVERVIEW: We pitted Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW against each other to see which is better at streaming TV. We tested Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW on a number of devices and watched more Steven Universe than we care to admit. Though DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV both have pros and cons—we reviewed pricing, channels, features, and more—we picked Sling TV as the overall winner.

Sling TV vs. DIRECTV NOW—quick comparison

We threw a quick comparison table together so you could see the differences (and similarities) between the two streaming TV services.

^{* Does not include add-on package pricing.
**This range includes channel add-ons which Sling calls Extras (e.g. Sports Extra, Kids Extra, Best of Spanish TV Extra, etc.).}  

It’s a close call, but Sling TV wins it

When it comes to channel selection, Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW are more comparable than we first thought. However, Sling TV really stands out with its Cloud DVR and flexible pricing.

DIRECTV NOW currently doesn’t offer Cloud DVR, and that gives Sling TV a huge advantage because it can record movies and shows, while DIRECTV NOW can’t. Sling TV also offers more than twenty add-ons (sports channel package, movie channel package, etc.), which can seem like overkill, but we prefer having the add-on option instead of paying for a bunch of channels we never wanted in the first place (*cough* looking at you cable and satellite TV).

Comparing pricing and plans with Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW

The price never tells the whole story, and the same goes for Sling TV’s and DIRECTV NOW’s.

Paying only for the channels you want is arguably the biggest selling point of streaming TV service, and though Sling TV doesn’t do that perfectly, it comes closer than DIRECTV NOW.

Sling TV advertises an “industry leading low price,” but that low price (Sling TV’s Orange plan) gives you fewer channels than DIRECTV NOW—40 channels fewer, to be specific.¹ While DIRECTV NOW’s lowest-priced plan (Live a Little) gives you more than 60 channels total, it’s almost twice the price of Sling TV’s lowest-priced plan (Orange): $35 a month compared to $20 a month.

We keep getting the names of DIRECTV NOW’s plans mixed up with sizing options at Cold Stone Creamery,² but if you’re looking for a deeper dive into each plan, you can check out our full-length review of DIRECTV NOW.

Sling TV plans

For some reason Sling TV decided to name its streaming TV plans after colors. It’s confusing, but we nail the details down in our full-length review of Sling TV if you want to find out more.

Looking at the two of these services, if you’re all about penny-pinching, then there’s no denying the appeal of Sling TV’s Orange plan. It offers ESPN, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Comedy Central, AMC, and more for $20 a month. We’d be more than willing to fork over an Andrew Jackson a month for the upcoming Rick & Morty season on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, so we think Sling’s low-priced Orange plan will catch the attention of most eyeballs and wallets.  

DIRECTV NOW plans

Sling TV may be the bargain-basement streaming TV service, but you could make a case that DIRECTV NOW offers just as much (if not more) value. DIRECTV NOW’s $35-a-month Live a Little plan has more channels per dollar than Sling TV’s Orange plan. So if you think there’s more value in quantity, maybe you’ll prefer DIRECTV NOW’s lower-tiered plans.

Are Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW truly à la carte TV?

Not quite, but one TV streaming service is getting close.

Sling TV boasts that it offers à la carte TV and, well, in this case it’s more a half-truth. If it were truly à la carte (definition: according to a menu or list that prices items separately), you’d be able to choose each and every channel you want. That’s not the case with Sling TV, but with its add-ons you could easily argue it’s more à la carte than DIRECTV NOW.

Sling TV lets you choose from more than twenty-eight service add-ons, each ranging from $5 to $15 a month. Some add-ons are exactly what they sound like—for example, the Sports Extra add-on includes sports channels such as ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, NBA TV, and more. Other add-ons run the gamut from kids programming (Disney Junior, Nicktoons, etc.) and movie channels (Showtime, STARZ, etc.) to international channels (French television anyone?),

To compare, DIRECTV NOW does have three add-on options, but they’re just for single, premium channels (HBO, Showtime, STARZ, etc.), and nothing comparable to something like the Sports Extra from Sling TV

Do Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW have the channels I want?

It can be a little overly complicated finding the channels you want on a given plan from Sling TV or DIRECTV NOW. For example, ESPN is on Sling TV’s Orange plan ($20/mo.) but not the more expensive Blue plan ($25/mo.)? But overall, Sling TV’s and DIRECTV NOW’s channel selections feel surprisingly similar to each other’s.

Despite having most of the same channels, DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV still have a handful of exclusives. If one of those exclusive channels is a deal breaker (e.g., Pac-12 Network), we recommend starting there. To make it easier to find that must-have channel, we put together this channel comparison table for Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW. Every possible channel available from each service is here.

^{*Not available in select regions.}

You might have noticed there are a few exclusive channels. Sports fans, especially college sports fans, may want to know that you can only find the Pac-12 Network on Sling TV. However, DIRECTV carries Big Ten Network, and Sling TV doesn’t, so there’s that too.

If you’re a horror fan, Chiller, the horror and thriller channel, is on DIRECTV NOW but not Sling TV. DIRECTV NOW also has the Discovery Channel, whereas Sling TV does not. Also, if you’re a fan of of silver-screen gems, Turner Classic Movies is available only on Sling TV.

The Sling TV viewing experience

Are there commercials on Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW?

Just so there are no surprises, you should know both Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW bombard you with commercials.

Both are streaming TV services, not purely on-demand streaming like Netflix, so with live TV comes commercials, just like clouds come with rain. Still, we were surprised when both Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW hit us with commercials while we watched on-demand programming.

To be fair, not all programming has commercials, but you can never quite tell what does and doesn’t have advertising. For example, when we watched Game of Thrones, we didn’t experience any commercials because HBO is an ad-free, premium add-on. However, when we put on a movie or show from a channel that airs commercials, we weren’t sure what we’d get.

We have two examples of you-don’t-know-if-there-are-commercials programming. When we watched Steven Universe on demand, DIRECTV NOW had ads from Cartoon Network (the same network that broadcasts Steven Universe) and we could skip forward or backward (through the show, but not the Cartoon Network promos). When we watched Steven Universe on Sling TV, there were no ads, but we could NOT skip forward or backward.

When we watched The Simpsons on demand, DIRECTV NOW showed us prerecorded ads from sponsors and no fast forward or skip features were available. To our surprise, Sling TV did the exact same thing as DIRECTV NOW with The Simpsons.

The don’t-know-if-you’re-gonna-get-a-commercial thing was a nuisance, but the experience varied more by channels than streaming TV service, so it’s hard to say who comes out the winner. But we do know the know the loser: it’s us, the viewers . . . but hey, at least it’s not as bad as traditional cable or satellite TV commercials.

Of course, if you fork over the extra $5 a month on Sling TV, you can record (most of) your shows and movies and skip commercials, but be aware you’ll need a solid internet connection to watch anything on Sling’s Cloud DVR.

What devices can I watch Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW on?

If you’re a gadget fiend and want to know what you can watch Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW on, here’s a list of devices and system requirements.

There were more differences in device compatibility when Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW first launched, but as time goes on, the two services are becoming more and more available on a slew of devices. The only notable exceptions are gaming consoles: Sling TV works on the Xbox One but DIRECTV NOW does not. However, DIRECTV NOW hints that it may become available on the console in the future (currently, it has no date set).

As for the PS4, it won’t support Sling TV or DIRECTV NOW. Sony (PlayStation/PS4) has its own streaming TV service, the PlayStation Vue, so it makes sense it won’t let others play with its hardware.

Are Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW still buggy?

DIRECTV NOW’s bugs were hard to ignore when we first reviewed the service, and though it’s made improvements since then, we still experienced error screens aplenty. In fact, as we jumped between DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV, the difference between the two services became more and more apparent.

We tried to watch shows like Bob’s Burgers multiple times on DIRECTV NOW, but each time we received an “error 40” screen. We even closed DIRECTV NOW and tried again later, but there was still the mysterious error 40 screen. Though we tried multiple times to check in and watch Bob and his family’s wacky antics, we were stopped by that same error 40 screen. It wasn’t just Bob’s Burgers either; we couldn’t watch Into the Badlands on AMC or America’s Got Talent on NBC, two very different shows on two very different network channels.

The Sling TV experience was different. We didn’t come across any bugs—not once. We know Sling TV is far from perfect (we know there are bugs out there, even if we didn’t run into them), but we didn’t experience any service interruptions this time around. When we clicked on a show or movie, it started. We didn’t deal with buffering either—and that’s all we really want in life.

Sling TV vs. DIRECTV NOW summary

We’ve been reviewing cable and satellite TV service for some time, so naturally, we’re excited about streaming TV. Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW are two of the biggest streaming TV services out there, and both have pros and cons. When comparing the two this time around, we were surprised how similar their channel offerings were. However, there were still some big differences outside of that—Sling TV has Cloud DVR (50 hrs. for $5/mo.) and more flexible pricing with its add-ons, and DIRECTV NOW still has some bugs to work out.

Our recommendations

• If you’re a penny-pinching cord-cutter, it doesn’t get any cheaper than Sling TV’s Orange plan. If money isn’t an issue, then get the Orange + Blue plan.
• DIRECTV NOW still needs to work out some bugs, but because there’s a 7-day free trial, we say give it a shot and see if it works best for you.
• Both Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW are easy to sign up for and cancel. We’ve done it numerous times, and it never takes more than few minutes for either service.

We miss something?

If you still have questions about Sling TV or DIRECTV NOW, ask us in the comments section below. We’ll do our best to satisfy your curiosity.

Sources

<sup>1.    Sling TV, “Sling TV À LA CARTE TV™”
2.    Cold Stone, “FAQs: What are Cold Stone portion sizes?”</sup>