June has already been a big month for Sling TV, with the live-TV streaming service adding a host of Viacom-owned channels, coming to the Apple TV, and bringing its updated UI to Roku devices. Apparently that wasn’t enough, as the service is getting another batch of channels beginning Thursday, and that’s not the only news.
Since Sling TV introduced its multi-stream service in April, allowing users to watch across multiple devices at once, customers have had to either choose between two different base packages, or pay for them both to get all the channels available between them. Now those packages are easier to distinguish, with the single-stream service being renamed Sling Orange, while the multi-stream service is now known as Sling Blue, and is officially out of beta.
With the new names also comes updated pricing. While Sling Orange will remain priced at $20 per month, the additional channels coming to Sling Blue come with a price increase to $25 per month. Customers who signed on for the service while it was in beta will still only pay $20 per month, while users paying for both Orange and Blue will pay a discounted price of $40 per month.
“Consumers now have more than 100 channels to choose from as they customize their ideal television experience,” Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch said in a statement. “With our new multi-service option and NBC Universal programming, Sling is one of the few pay-TV options where value continues to improve.”
The Blue package is getting the majority of the new channels. Sling Orange customers now have access to BBC America, while Sling Blue customers get that channel as well as USA, Bravo, NBC Sports Network, and Syfy. Even more NBCUniversal channels are available to Blue customers in various Extra packs as well.
Sling Blue is getting a new Sports Extra pack, featuring the Golf Channel as well as beIN Sports, Outside TV, and Univision Deportes. E!, Oxygen, and Vibrant TV are being added to the Lifestyle Plus Extra package, which also features VH1, the Cooking Channel, DIY, FYI, WE TV, and LMN, while the World News Extra package will see BBC World News, CNBC, and MSNBC added. For Sling Orange customers, Vibrant TV and BBC World News are joining the Lifestyle Plus Extra and World News Extra packages, respectively.
Finally, Sling Blue customers will also get live, local NBC broadcasts in Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Washington D.C., and Hartford, Connecticut. More local affiliates are expected to be added on a market-by-market basis in the future, and on-demand NBC programming is also planned to be added at a later date.
For a full list of available channels, see the Sling TV blog.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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