This is a deal I saw because of Cyber Monday, but I don't know if it's limited to today. I think it might last longer, but I did it, since I have been wanting to try Sling and needed another Roku anyway. You pay for 1 month of Sling (Orange deal is $20/mo), and pay tax (a little over a dollar for me) and they'll ship the Roku free. There's no contract. Here's the link with more information.
I just checked, and it seem the above offer is still in effect. Usually these types of deals w/Sling offering a free Roku are effective for at least a month. I believe there are other deals also, with other versions of the Roku, even the newer ones, so if someone's looking to upgrade, check them out. I saw in the comments that the deal isn't limited to just newcomers, although I'm not sure if that means former customers, or current ones. If you're a current customer, you might need to put the deal in another household member's name.
What is Sling ? I have heard the name mentioned; but I don't know what it is or how it works. Is it something like Netflix or Hulu where you get a subscription to it and watch movies or TV shows ?
Sling offers live content to those who have cut the cable. I tried it for a few months but found it to be so expensive that I may as well have signed up for cable again, if that was what I wanted. Plus, I have been without network or cable television long enough that I no longer want to go back to having to watch a particular show at a particular time. If I were a sports nut, perhaps it would make some sense but I found that I was paying $37 a month and rarely watching it. Nearly every time I thought about watching it, there was nothing on that I wanted to watch. It's available through Roku as well as the Amazon TV stick. When I tried it, the cost was $37 per month but that was a year or so ago. It looks like it's $20 a month now, which is still more than I want to pay. It's very much like signing up for cable, only without the cable.
$20 is way less than I was paying for cable, @Ken Anderson, and if it works out, I might cut Hulu, too. I'm trying it for the free Roku, but so far, it seems pretty good. It would be better with Xfinity, because AT&T's speed is lousy, despite having their supposedly fastest plan. @Yvonne Smith As Ken said, it's live TV. It runs off of your internet connection, and the number and type of channels you will have is determined by the plan you choose, any add-ons you decide to pay for, and also where you live. Where I live, local channels aren't included, but they've noted my interest, so they may be available in the future. I got the cheapest plan at $20, and you can click through the link I provided above, or just google Sling or Sling TV to see the details. They are starting a Sling Cloud DVR service in December. I've put myself on the list to beta test that, assuming it's free. If not, I probably won't try it out, at least initially. I like the idea of a cloud DVR, because then I don't have to worry about equipment. If this works out and I do get rid of my local channels via ATT, I'll have to return the receivers and DVR I have (non-functioning as such now, just works as a receiver) via UPS and cross my fingers that they get them and acknowledge receipt and don't charge me an arm and a leg for them. I watched HGTV live last night, which was nice. It only stalled for a few seconds a few times, which is ridiculous, since I supposedly have fast internet and was only feet away from the router, but that's an ATT issue, not a Sling issue. I didn't get any add-ons, just the basic Orange package that's required to get the free Roku.
I looked at this yesterday, and then went to the Sling website and looked at the channel packages. While I seldom even watch television, Bobby loves watching several programs, and also some of the older movies and TV shows. He was watching Fox News religiously every day when The Five came on, but now he seldom watches that, and that was the main reason we HAD to have either expensive cable or satellite. In April, the DirecTV goes up about $40, so I would like to do something else between now and then, and save some money. We have Amazon Prime, so I think I would like the Fire TV, or Fire Stick better than the Roku because then Bobby can watch the Amazon Prime movies on the television if he wants to do that. We can actually do that anyway, just by using Airplay on the iPad; but the Fire TV would make it easier. If I look for a good sale price for internet, then we can change over, and stop the DirecTV and AT&T internet. I would still have to pay the cancellation fee, but it would still be better than the expense each month, especially once it goes up again. The $25 Sling package looked like it has almost all of the channels that the $40 one has, so that is what we would go with if we try Sling TV.
@Ina I. Wonder This is the thread I was talking about, where SlingTV is mentioned. The Cloud DVR is coming active. I haven't gotten a notice about being approved to use it yet, but I'm hoping. If so, at least during the trial (beta) period, it will allow 100 hours of recording, and apparently those recordings don't have an expiration date. @Yvonne Smith I was surprised that they put 3 ESPN channels in the lowest priced package. I don't typically watch sports, but I do like to watch an occasional hockey game. I'd trade those for DIY, LMN and something else like that, but so far I've found plenty to watch, and in addition to having the live TV, there's also On Demand content. If I decide to keep it, I might add on the lifestyle type package which includes DIY and LMN, as well as a few others I might be interested in, but for now I'm content with what I have.
I'm really enjoying having the 2nd Roku streaming stick. I still need one more, for downstairs. I could unplug one of the ones from up here and carry it down with me, but when I was doing that back when I initially got the 1st Roku, I would invariably forget the remote, and have to go back upstairs for it, or back downstairs, when I was returning it to the upstairs TV. Now that I have Sling, I'm more inclined to disconnect the local channels, despite the fact that my internet sucks and the shows sometimes lag or pause. That's an internet issue, not the fault of the unit or service. I just paid my cable/internet bill the other day, and I saw that the provider has been nice enough to discontinue a discount for one of my TV receivers, so now my bill has crept up another $10/month, so I'll be disconnecting that service soon. I'll make due with the two TV antennas I have, and might not bother to get a third for the TV downstairs.
@Gary Ridenour Gary, here's the thread I was talking about. It should give you a good amount of information. If you're going to go with Sling, check first to make sure they're offering a free Roku if you want one. If you don't need it (if you have a smart TV or blu-ray player with a Sling app, you could always sell it. Once I cut off the cable local channels, I'm considering adding on a $5 package w/Sling for a few more channels, but I have a pretty nice selection with my Sling, Hulu & Netflix.
I just found another promotion/giveaway that Amazon is doing right now. You have to have a Twitter account to enter, and then you need to follow Amazon Fire TV on Twitter, and retweet the announcement of the giveaway. They are offering a huge (64") smart TV that is set up with Amazon Fire TV already programmed into it. The second and third prizes are also smart television sets, just of a smaller size. Even though I really do not watch much television, I looked it up on Twitter and entered the contest. For someone who enjoys watching TV, this is an awesome prize, and easy to enter. The contest only runs a few days, May 16-19, so enter right away. Here is the link for the contest. https://www.amazon.com/b/?ie=UTF8&node=16857156011