Is Sling TV Available in Canada? How To Watch and Alternatives

Are you tired of feeling limited by your expensive traditional cable or satellite TV packages? Sling TV is an internet-based service popular among cord-cutters looking to replace traditional TV packages.

With Sling TV, you can customize your channel and on-demand content selection from affordable packages that fit your budget and interests accessible through various devices like smartphones, tablets, computers, and streaming media players.

Sling TV stands out from the competition because of its adaptability, low prices, and Freestream feature, which provides access to hundreds of live channels at no extra cost.

With its unavailability in Canada, you’re probably curious about getting Sling TV channels up and running in Canada to experience the best watching experience. Here’s how to do it!

What is Sling TV?

Sling TV is one of the best entertainment television services where you can stream live sports, news, hit TV programs, on-demand movies, and much more from popular USA TV channels and internet content.

The best part about Sling TV is that channel packages are fully customizable, so you can hand-pick specific shows or channels from over 220 channels, more than 120,000 on-demand content, that interest you.

You also have the option to use the Sling Freestream without the need to pay anything or subscribe to the platform but still access enormous collections of TV shows, movies, and live TV channels.

You can get free DVR storage to record your favourite shows for 50 hours at no additional cost.

Sling TV also lets you video chat and watch shows with your family and friends using the Sling Watch Party feature, so anywhere in the world, you can modify whatever language you speak.

All these features are customizable (with extras) and don’t need you to commit long-term if you’re availing of one of the packages so that you can pause it anytime.

If you’re wondering where you can stream Sling TV, here is the complete list of devices supported:

TVs and Players

Smartphones & Computers

Gaming Consoles

• Xbox Series XIS

Sling TV Channels and Packages

Sling TV gives you more than 220 live TV channels and more than 40,000 in-demand titles like The Walking Dea and John Wick, all available in their ad-supported Sling Freestream packages.

Sling Freestream features well-liked channels like AMC, Discovery, ABC News Live, A&E, CNN, ESPN, TBS, and Nick Jr, and some you may not be familiar with.

Among the networks and channels offering free programming are:

Comedy, Drama, Reality TV Shows, Movies

Sports & Fitness

News & Entertainment

Family & Kids

Music

Premium Channels

Sling Freestream’s channel lineup is an excellent sample of what’s available in the Sling Blue, Orange, and Orange+Blue packages and other popular channels for paying customers.

Here is a table showing all Sling TV channels available when you subscribe to one of the Sling TV packages, and it will help you decide which of the three best suits your taste.

No	Sling Channels	Sling Orange	Sling Blue	Sling Orange & Blue
1	A&E	Yes	Yes	Yes
2	ABC	–	Yes	Yes
3	AMC	Yes	Yes	Yes
4	AXS TV	Yes	Yes	Yes
5	BBC America	Yes	Yes	Yes
6	BET	Yes	Yes	Yes
7	Bloomberg Television	Yes	Yes	Yes
8	Bravo	–	Yes	Yes
9	CHARGE!	Yes	Yes	Yes
10	CNN	Yes	Yes	Yes
11	Cartoon Network	Yes	Yes	Yes
12	Comedy Central	Yes	Yes	Yes
13	Comet	Yes	Yes	Yes
14	Discovery Channel	–	Yes	Yes
15	Disney Channel	Yes	–	Yes
16	E!	–	Yes	Yes
17	ESPN	Yes	–	Yes
18	ESPN2	Yes	–	Yes
19	ESPN3	Yes	–	Yes
20	FOX	–	Yes	Yes
21	FOX Sports 1	–	Yes	Yes
22	FX	–	Yes	Yes
23	Food Network	Yes	Yes	Yes
24	Fox News	–	Yes	Yes
25	Freeform	Yes	–	Yes
26	Fuse	Yes	Yes	Yes
27	HGTV	Yes	Yes	Yes
28	HLN	–	Yes	Yes
29	History Channel	Yes	Yes	Yes
30	IFC	Yes	Yes	Yes
31	Investigation Discovery	Yes	Yes	Yes
32	Lifetime	Yes	Yes	Yes
33	Local Now	Yes	Yes	Yes
34	MGM+ Drive-In	Yes	Yes	Yes
35	MSNBC	–	Yes	Yes
36	MotorTrend	Yes	–	Yes
37	NBC	–	Yes	Yes
38	NFL Network	–	Yes	Yes
39	National Geographic	–	Yes	Yes
40	Nick Jr.	Yes	Yes	Yes
41	SYFY	–	Yes	Yes
42	TBS	Yes	Yes	Yes
43	TLC	–	Yes	Yes
44	TNT	Yes	Yes	Yes
45	Travel CHannel	Yes	Yes	Yes
46	USA	–	Yes	Yes
47	Vice	Yes	Yes	Yes
48	truTV	–	Yes	Yes

Other premium add-on channels for extra cost aside from those mentioned above are shown below.

Sling TV Extras

Is Sling TV Free?

Creating a Sling TV account is simple and free; you can access their Freestream to watch TV shows, movies, news, realities, and other entertainment platforms, both live and on-demand but with unskippable advertisements.

Sling Freestream is not a free trial but a full free feature rebranding by Dish Network to compete with other TV streaming services like Xumo, Tubi, and Pluto TV without any catch.

Some popular TV shows included are CBS Mornings, News Live, K&P, Sports Grid, and international channels like Euronews, India Today, France 24, and Love Nature.

When accessing the free feature of the Sling TV, you have the freedom to not register for an account or input your credit card details. Just download their app on Google Play or Apple Store, or access their website Sling.com to start streaming.

Sign up for a profile to enjoy your most-loved features, customize your go-to channels, and enjoy the entire content library.

On top of that, you can upgrade your Sling TV experience by subscribing to one of their customizable plans at an affordable price, lower than what you pay for most cable TV Providers.

Sling TV Pricing

The many premium Sling TV channels available with the paid subscription are Fox, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, E!, the BBC, and many more. The three base Sling TV packages, each with no annual contracts and an utterly flexible channel lineup and extras, are outlined below.

Sling Orange

Sling Orange costs $40 a month; however, the company offers a discounted rate of $20 for the first month. This channel bundle gives 31 channels, mainly about sports and families, and free DVR storage for 50 hours, but it’s limited to streaming on a single device and doesn’t include NBC, Nat Geo, FOX, or ABC.

Sling Blue

Sling Blue is priced at $45 monthly, and the company offers a discounted rate of $22.5, half off your first month. This package gives 42 channels about news and entertainment and free DVR storage for 50 hours, but it’s limited to streaming up to three devices.

It doesn’t include Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and MotorTrend, which are available with Sling Orange and Sling Blue & Orange.

Sling Orange & Blue

Sling Blue & Orange is the most expensive among the three packages offered at $60 per month and discounted $30 half off the first month and contains everything available in Sling Blue and Sling Orange.

Aside from these three basic subscription packages, there are other bundles you can try, like Basketball Bundle, a Sling Orange + Sports Extra for just $31, and Premium Pass for access to many hit movies and series from SHOWTIME and MGM+.

Is Sling TV Available in Canada?

Unfortunately, Sling TV is region-locked and only accessible inside the United States, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, excluding Canada. The main reason is due to licensing rights issues to the content provided, but they have announced that they wanted to expand in other countries soon.

Due to the geographic restrictions agreed between Dish Network with media agencies, production studios, and news companies, whenever you try to open or access Sling TV from Canada, you’ll get a geo-blocking error message stating: it is only available in the United States. 

How To Watch Sling TV In Canada

There are so many ways you can watch Sling TV in Canada, and the most efficient way is by using a premium VPN. You can connect your VPN to a US server to change your IP address and have access to Sling TV even if you’re in Canada.

You have to download and install a VPN app, go to the list of servers, and connect to a VPN server based in the United States. Once connected, you may open the Sling TV website and start streaming TV shows and movies for free or opt for the priced plans.

Some of the best premium VPNs you can download and subscribe to are:

• ExpressVPN is one of the best VPN apps to watch Sling TV in Canada as it is the fastest and the most recommended server, priced at $6.67 monthly.
• NordVPN is priced at $5.99 per month and is one of the safest premium VPNs in the Canadian market, offering you top-notch privacy and security. With a 1 or 2-year subscription, you get a discount of up to 63%, making this service very affordable.
• SurfShark is one of the budget-friendly premium VPNs but offers high-speed servers at CA$ 3.35 per month.

If you prefer to avoid spending money on VPNs, you can still try free VPNs but beware, as these VPNs are not recommended for use because of poor security and could harm your data privacy.

Once you’ve downloaded your VPN and now have access to Sling TV, you may also try subscribing to the platform.

Since you’re in Canada, you need a valid US payment method to pay for your Sling TV subscription, and some of the most popular ones are:

PayPal Gift Card

After connecting to a US server, sign into your PayPal account and head to the PayPal gift card store to buy a Sling TV gift card. Once you receive the code through your email, you may head to Sling.com and redeem your gift card to pay for your subscription.

Virtual US Prepaid Debit Card

Another great alternative if you don’t have a PayPal account is to try a virtual US prepaid debit card like StatesCard. Just by signing up and adding your credentials, you can transfer money from your existing debit or credit cards which you will use to subscribe to Sling TV.

Sling TV Canada Alternatives

1. Disney Plus

Disney+ is one of the most popular entertainment streaming platforms to access content from Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic Channel, Pixar, Korean Dramas, and Star Productions. You can pick from a vast collection of 1600+ movies, 28000+ episodes, and new and exclusive movies and series, which you can view on four screens simultaneously.

Check out Disney Plus plans here.

2. Telus Streamplus

Telus Stream+ is a premium entertainment video streaming service that includes Netflix Premium, Apple TV+, Discovery+, and TELUS TV+, which you can get for just $28 (plus taxes). Telus Streamplus is one of the best platforms to save money on streaming apps instead of paying for services individually, which could cost approximately $40.

3. Netflix

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming services where you can watch unlimited movies, and TV shows, both online and offline. It is very popular with its extensive library of award-winning originals like Stranger Things, Dark, Heartstopper, House of Cards, and more.

Plans for Netflix in Canada cost from $5.99 to $20.99 plus taxes.

Related: Netflix plans and pricing in Canada.

4. Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video is Amazon’s video streaming platform where you can watch exclusive Amazon Originals, TV shows, sports, live events, and on-demand movies at $8.25 monthly or $99 annually. Some of the most notable channels are StackTV, Paramount+, Starz, Discovery+, Hayu, AMC+, Hayu, CityTV+, Britbox, and Superchannel.

5. Hulu

Hulu is a TV streaming platform like Sling TV where you can watch exclusive series, episodes, hit movies, kids’ shows, Hulu Originals, and 85+ live TV channels, all with advertisements.

There are three basic subscription packages you can choose from. You can sign up for Hulu only for $7.99/month, Hulu and Disney+ for $9.99/month, and Hulu + Disney + ESPN priced at $12.99/month.

For streaming without ads, you are required to pay $14.99 per month.

6. HBO Max

HBO Max is one of the premium streaming apps where you can watch the most prominent Warner Bros content, HBO exclusive shows, and movies from unlimited content on the platform priced at $9.99 per month (with ads) and $15.99 per month (ad-free). 

Unfortunately, HBO Max has yet to be available in Canada, but always keep an eye out as HBO Max is currently working on extending their service locations.

Like Sling TV, you may use a premium VPN service to access and subscribe to HBO Max in Canada.

7. Pluto TV

Pluto TV is a free TV streaming platform with over 100 live TV channels, 1000+ movies and TV shows, and on-demand content from the web, and it doesn’t require you to subscribe.

The website lets you access the content quickly as they have categorized it according to their genre: classics, comedy, crime, drama, food, kids, etc.

Is Sling TV Worth It?

Yes, Sling TV is worth it if you’re looking to cut the TV cable cord, want some flexibility, and want to pay an affordable price for popular live channels.

More so, no other streaming platform has offered consumers the “a la carte” model where you would pay for the channels you want to watch. On top of that, you’ll get a lot of channel add-ons and extras for customization.

Although channel lineups are slimmer than traditional live TV streaming services, with monthly payments starting at $30, you’ll still get a solid and customizable package with Sling TV.

FAQs

Related:

• Does Crave Offer a Free Trial?
•  Best Mobile Networks in Canada
• What is the Average Household Income in Canada?
• $50,000 a Year is How Much An Hour?