There are a lot of alternatives to cable right now, including plenty of live TV and binge-able streaming options. One of those options---Dish's Sling TV---just got even better, according to an announcement made by the NFL this morning. That's right, the NFL Network and Dish just reached a new carriage agreement, which means NFL Network and NFL RedZone are returning to Dish subscribers and will be added to Sling TV for its fall slate of programming. If you are a Sling subscriber especially, this is huge news.
So, what does this deal include? Quite frankly, a lot. If you are an NFL fan, you'll get the Thursday night games that are exclusive to the network, along with 65 preseason games, NFL GameDay Morning and a slew of other shows and even some stuff shot at training camp. There's even a new morning show the network is putting together, aptly titled Good Morning Football. The new agreement is set to go into effect before the football season really kicks off this fall.
If you've been keeping tabs on Sling TV, it's a pretty sweet deal for people who want some cable channels but don't want to shell out like a hundred bucks a month for hundreds of channels. Instead, Sling TV offers more than 20 live channels, including the likes of AMC, TNT, History, Adult Swim, ESPN, The Disney Channel and more, all for 20 bucks a month. Users can also add HBO and more for a fee. Streaming is clearly becoming a bigger deal for football, and signing on with Sling TV is an easy way for the NFL Network to reach a larger audience as part of a carriage deal.
Since you can also easily access Sling across numerous platforms, the service might be an additional option for those households that do really enjoy NFL games but are looking to cut out cable. Regardless, when Sling TV does expand to include another offering, the service is extremely selective and really only looks for networks that have big, broad appeal, making their selection a rather curated example of what TV has to offer. It's not a bad deal and is available across numerous devices, similar to the ease of use of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
Of course a lot of the big football games still occur on the major networks via Sunday Night Football and other game day airings. You can check out when your fall favorites--including upcoming NFL programming--will start hitting the schedule with our list of TV airdates.
