Roku’s streaming TV market place is quickly becoming crowded, but Sling TV has a clever new way of luring in potential subscribers.
In addition to notable improvements to its interface, Sling TV is offering a new way for users to try its service for free. This isn’t your typical seven-day free trial, either. You don’t have to enter a credit card, and there’s no time limit. Users will be able to be a selection of on-demand movies and shows, drawn a mix of cable channels. Free content includes one episode each from Showtime’s current lineup. Under the new “browse as guest” option, Roku users can now rent pay-per-view movies and live events from with the app without a membership.
The Roku update also adds the ability for users to subscribe to individual channels for a flat fee. The first wave of a la carte channels includes Showtime ($10 per month), CuriosityStream ($6 per month), Stingray Karaoke ($7 per month), Dove Channel ($5 per month), Outside TV Features ($5 per month), UP Faith & Family ($5 per month), Pantaya ($6 per month), and NBA League Pass ($28.99 per month).
The update will be rolling out gradually over the next couple of weeks. If you don’t immediately see the option when you open the Sling TV app, keep checking back. It will show up soon.
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It’s worth noting, guest users won’t get full access to Sling TV. This is just a tasting menu of what the service has to offer. Still, free TV is nothing to sneeze at.
Along with Roku’s free content, device owners are also the first to get Sling TV’s new binge-watching feature. Now when you finish watching a show, if the next episode of the series is available in your DVR or on-demand, Sling TV will let you know. If you don’t do anything, the app will automatically play the next episode.
Roku users aren’t the only ones seeing new features from Sling TV this week. Amazon Fire, Android TV, and Roku users are all getting an updated search function. Rather than simply offering a list of results, users can fine-tune their search to specific categories like Top Results, Movies, and Shows.
The Roku updates will slowly roll out across all devices over the coming weeks. Enhanced search and the new binge-watching features will be introduced to additional devices in the future, though no hard timeline has been set.
New to cord-cutting? Here are our picks for the best movie streaming sites of 2018 and free live TV apps and channels. If you’re looking for a specific channel, here’s how to watch HBO, Showtime, Starz, Sundance TV, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, Willow, AMC, FX, Fox News, Freeform, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, FS1, TBS, TNT, Tennis Channel, Golf Channel, Syfy, HGTV, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Bravo, Lifetime, Discovery, PBS, the CW, BBC, CSPAN, NBA TV, MTV, Comedy Central, Food Network, TLC, HLN, A&E, Animal Planet, National Geographic, the Weather Channel, the History Channel, and NFL RedZone without cable, as well as free movies on YouTube. If you’re on the move, here’s how to watch Fox Sports Go and live stream NBC Sports.
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