Sling TV, the over-the-top streaming service that brings live content without the big price tags of cable bundles makes the leap to Xbox One today. The Sling TV offering provides access to a variety of channels, including AMC, TNT, ESPN and ESPN2 for only $20 a month, plus more options via inexpensive add-on packs.
Xbox One support was announced back in January, but the arrival of the service today brings a free trial offer that allows owners of the console to test out the service for 30 days free before committing to a paid subscription. The app also works with Microsoft’s Snap feature, letting you put it to one side of your screen while also using other software. It’s also compatible with gesture and voice commands made via Kinect, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Sling TV says that it’s interested in Xbox One as a target device because the service was designed for millennial, as that appears to be where the appetite exists for a lightweight, lower cost alternative to traditional cable or satellite that doesn’t come with huge contract commitments or a complicated fee structure.
The platform expansion for Sling TV is well-timed: WSJ reported last night that Apple is planning to launch its own subscription-based streaming TV service in the fall, and that could potentially become one of Sling TV’s most promising competitors, although Apple is much more likely to view it as an incentive to boost the appeal of its own hardware products than a cross-ecosystem media offering in its own right like the Sling service.