Which Sling TV? Orange or Blue?

If you want a live streaming service -- effectively streaming cable -- then one of the best bargains is Sling TV.

Sling TV is $40/month, and has the most popular cable channels. It has entertainment channels, news channels, sports channels, but it's missing one thing: local channels.

Now, in some markets, where ABC, Fox, or NBC owns the local stations, local channels are available. But, in most markets, this isn't the case. Sling.com has a chart that shows where local channels are available.

Because local channels aren't usually available, the price is lower for Sling TV than for other services, such as YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV, Fubo, DirecTV streaming, and others. However, the sports and news runs up the price, which is why Sling TV is more than Philo, which doesn't have news or sports.

But, if you want a service that has news and sports, then Sling TV is the best bargain.

If you look at their offerings, you'll see they have two plans: Orange and Blue. They are the same cost, but have some differences. And it's those differences that make a lot of difference.

Lets start with the channel offerings. The bulk of the channels are available on both services. There are some channels that are only available with the Orange package, and some channels that are only available with the Blue package.

Orange has these 6 channels:

• Disney Channel
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• ESPN3
• Freeform
• MotorTrend

Blue has these 14 channels:

• Bravo
• Discovery Channel
• E!
• FOX Sports 1
• FX
• Fox News
• HLN
• MSNBC
• NFL Network
• National Geographic
• SYFY
• TLC
• USA
• truTV

The remaining 26 channels are on both Orange and Blue:

• A&E
• AMC
• AXS TV
• BBC America
• BET
• Bloomberg Television
• CHARGE!
• CNN
• Cartoon Network
• Comedy Central
• Comet
• Food Network
• Fuse
• HGTV
• History Channel
• IFC
• Investigation Discovery
• Lifetime
• Local Now
• MGM+ Drive-In
• Nick Jr.
• QVC
• TBS
• TNT
• Travel Channel
• Vice

Of course, there are other channels that can be added to packages, but we're only talking the base package, as it give a good idea of the differences.

Oh, there is one other difference. On Orange, you get one stream. On Blue, you get three simultaneous streams.

There is a $55/month package that combines the two packages. It's as if you have two services, meaning you get all the channels in both packages, with one stream for each Orange channel and three streams for each Blue channel. For the 26 common channels, you get four (one for Orange and three for Blue).

So, which is the one for you? I use Sling Orange during football season to get ESPN, but the rest of the year, do without. I have plenty to watch using other paid or free services. My Streaming Life is all about saving money, and I don't pay for stuff I don't watch. But, if the content on Sling is worth it to you, knowing what channels and how many streams you get is helpful.