When you think of Sling TV, you probably think of one of the best cable TV alternatives for cord-cutters. But it also offers up a free streaming service — and it just got new channels and a new guide.
As reported by Cord Cutters News, Sling TV Freestream just added nine new channels to its lineup of over 400 channels. Cook Chop Chat, Hip Hop WE TV, MSG Sportzone, PFL, Quip, Revry Latinx, Sleuth, Supermarket Sweep and the Jamie Oliver Channel are all available as of this week. These channels join HSN and Binge TV, which Sling TV already added earlier this month.
And now it will be much easier to find those channels, thanks to a revamped Freestream guide. Previously, Sling TV Freestream’s guide had just been one long list of channels (h/t Cord Cutters News), making it difficult to find the right channel if you were only interested in a specific genre. You did have a search option, but that meant knowing exactly what you were looking for rather than scrolling through to see what’s on.
But now, the new guide allows you to enjoy your scroll within a few different categories. When I looked at Freestream, the options were sports, news, movies and kids, but others have reported reality, true crime, and more available to browse through.
Personally, for me, the big news here is being able to filter for browsing just movies. I find I’m often either in the mood to watch a movie or not — I don’t usually go browsing for a TV show and decide to watch a movie instead. So by putting all the movie channels in a browsable category, that’s a lot of useless scrolling and wasted time removed from watching Freestream.
Analysis: Sling TV Freestream still has some work to do
Free streaming services do have a clear downside — there are hundreds of hours of junk. And while Sling TV just added a bunch of new channels to Freestream, I’m not sure I’ll ever want to watch any of them.
That’s not to say that Freestream has nothing on it worth watching. In fact, it does seem to have one perk some other free streaming services don’t have. When watching only free streaming services for a week, one of our writers found they could watch premiere or pilot episodes for new hit TV shows typically reserved for paid streaming services. And in my browsing, I found that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 1 was available to watch for free right now.
But when competitors like Roku’s The Roku Channel add HBO Max shows and live sports, Sling TV needs to add a bit more than the Jamie Oliver Channel to get me to pick Freestream. And the last batch of free Sling TV channels didn’t get me that excited either. I get that these services rely on having massive libraries but a bit more quality and a bit less quantity could go a long way. Especially since this latest upgrade makes Freestream very easy to use.
More from Tom's Guide
