Hello...New to Sling and Channels. I'm trying to understand the channel guide and how Channels works with Sling Blue. I've added Sling as source ( I have Sling Blue), but when comparing Channel's guide to Sling's, there are several sling channels that don't show up in Channel's guide such as Lifetime, TNT, AMC, BET, A&E, and many others...YET certain others such as FX, Bravo, USA, SYFY are in Channel's guide. I was under the impression that everything in Sling's guide would show up in Channel's guide, thus making it a central place to watch broadcast, recordings and subscription TV. Please advise..
I will make a few assumptions and say when you added Sling to Channels, you added it via TV Everywhere.
Unfortunately for us cord cutters, TV Everywhere is not available for every channel one subscribes to, depending on the TV provider.
For example, the list of available TV Everywhere sites available on Sling are listed here:
There is a Channels thread on Sling TV and TV Everywhere which you may want to browse:
In case you are looking for a different provider, this site has been quite useful in determining which channels are available for Channels via TV Everywhere amongst the various major Cord Cutter television providers:
Should you desire a certain channel that is not available on the major streaming services, a more traditional cable / satellite provider may be warrented.
Incorrect.
Only supported TVE channels will show in Channels per stream provider you enter.
It is up to the network it slef, say Discovery, not the streaming service, to support TVE for TVE Live stream playback, and only what channels your stream service login credentials provide you access to.
For example, Discovery Channel, you can get TVE of all their networks, expect Discovery Family, cause that channel has no live TVE stream on their website, which is a requirement inorder for it to work with Channels.
Thanks everyone for those GREAT explanations...I followed some of the suggested threads and it led me to the following:.....When I edit Sling as a source and click on the pencil then edit...I find all the Sling channels that don't show up in the TVE Guide as status "login not supported" or "notAuthorized". Is there anything I should/can do to change those statuses ??
Change your subscription level? They are coming up as not supported/authorized because your Sling subscription does not include TV Everywhere access to those stations; even though you receive a channel through Sling's native app, it does not mean that you can access that network via TV Everywhere.
I think this is partially incorrect. The provider , i.e. Sling, has to include TVE in their negotiated carriage agreement with the network also. Sling has pretty poor support in comparison to Philo and YouTube TV.
Let me be more precise.
There are 2 main things to contend with.
1st, the network it self has to have a TVE stream for a provider to support.
2nd. Said network & the xyz streaming/CATV provider have to make a contract to allow that provider access to their network(s) via their connected account login.
Additionally:
There are TVE networks that only support certain provider login credentials.
Streaming provider includes all their offered networks inside their own app (Philo, Sling etc), but only has contract for TVE access to some of them.
CATV provided TVE credentials, also follow this rule, but often have the additional restriction of being directly tied to what cable channel package you have. (ie. Comcast has DIY, Nat Geo WILD TVE access, but only if you pay for and have that higher tier service package that includes those channels.)
There are networks that have a online "live stream" via website, and/or mobile app, but do not support TVE. These networks can only be watched in its own app/site or via the streaming service/CATV provider app/site. (ie. Discovery Family you can watch in their app or via Philo streaming provider app)
I think Nickelodeon is on that does that. No one has it via TVE. But crazily they make Nick Kids available. SpongeBob is the one thing that we keep going back into the Philo app to watch sometimes.
Back to the OP question... I think in general Sling has way worse support of TVE channels than the other main providers, so if you are using Channels DVR than Sling is probably not the best option.
As of 11/1/2020 here's what I see on my Channels DVR, using only Sling Blue:
Bravo, E!, FX (east and west), MSNBC, SYFY, USA.
Which is probably correct.
YMMV.
Wow, that seems super limited. Currently, I am using Philo and I see far more channels in TVE versus what you outlined in Sling Blue. At any rate, thanks for sharing as it's good information.
