What Local Channels Does Sling TV Have + Where?

Sling TV offers three local channels: ABC, Fox, and NBC. Some of its coverage can seem limited, but I found Sling’s integration with antennas an easy and cheap way to get free local channels into my TV guide.

In a hurry? Sling provides ABC, NBC, and Fox in select markets with its Blue plan. Or you can integrate it with an antenna. Save $25 on your first month of Sling TV.

How To Stream Local Channels with Sling TV

Sling TV provides three local channels: ABC, Fox, and NBC. These are available with its Blue plan (and the Sling Orange + Blue plan), though this depends on where you live.

ABC

ABC is available with Sling Blue in the following areas:

If you live in one of these areas, Sling Blue’s price of $40.00/month increases to $45.00/month. You can’t opt out of this, even if you don’t want ABC.

This doesn’t make complete sense to me, as almost everything on ABC Sports is available on ESPN3 — which is included in the Sling Orange plan for the regular $40.00/month (without the extra ABC fee). So if you mainly want ABC for sports, I suggest that option first.

Fox

Local Fox affiliates are available with Sling Blue in these locations:

NBC

Sling Blue provides NBC coverage to a few select regions:

Note that the Sling Blue plan offers both Fox and NBC in just seven cities: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Can You Watch CBS on Sling TV?

No, Sling doesn’t offer CBS. If you want all four major local channels (ABC, Fox, NBC, and CBS), you could supplement Sling Blue with Paramount+. The Paramount+ premium plan at $12.99/month comes with your local CBS live stream — this combined with Sling Blue’s $45.00/month (and that’s with the ABC fee) is one of the cheapest ways to get all four main local channels.

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Sling’s Local Channels Compared To Other Streaming Services

Most local channels are available on major streaming services, depending on the affiliate networks in your area. The following shows how Sling TV compares:

I should point out that Sling is the cheapest of all these services, and it integrates with an antenna — so you might be able to get all your local channels for free.

Sling TV With HD Antenna

Sling is the only streaming service I know that integrates with an antenna: any local over-the-air (OTA) channels you pick up with an antenna will show up in your Sling TV guide. Since watching local channels through an antenna is free (minus the cost of the antenna itself) this could be the cheapest way to get all the local channels in your area, regardless of whether Sling offers them or not.

Save $25 on Sling TV Now

I did find a small catch when I tried to test this out. To link your antenna to your Sling TV guide, you need either an indoor antenna plugged into a smart TV from 2020 (or newer) or any OTA antenna paired with an AirTV device.

Sling used to offer a free antenna if you prepaid for two months, but this no longer seems an option. Instead, Sling will send you a free AirTV Mini streaming device (worth $79.99).

Either way, you still need to set up an antenna. But if you do, it’s the cheapest way to get local channels.

About Sling TV

Sling TV is one of the most popular cable TV alternatives for streaming live TV. It has two base plans — Sling Orange or Sling Blue — both offering a different range of sports, entertainment, and family channels. If you can’t decide, you can combine them into the Orange + Blue plan for $55.00/month.

All Sling plans come with at least 50 hours of cloud DVR storage (you can pay for more) and work on almost any streaming device, including Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Android or iOS mobile devices, smart TVs, Xbox, and even the Oculus headset.

Our full Sling TV review has complete details.

Our Choice

While Sling doesn’t offer as many local channels as other live TV streaming service, I still think it’s useful for local channels — especially if you’re on a budget. And if you’re happy to set up an antenna, I recommend Sling over any of the others because of the way it integrates free OTA channels straight into your TV guide.

Save $25 on Sling TV Now

FAQs

Didn’t Sling TV used to carry ABC?

Sling carried ABC in its Broadcast Extra add-on package in its early days. However, Sling ditched the Broadcast Extra bundle after losing Univision and UniMas in a contractual dispute. But in 2023, Sling TV brought back ABC as part of its Sling Blue plan in 8 metro areas. It costs $5/mo extra for the channel.

Does Sling TV have any regional sports networks?

No. If they’re a must-have dealbreaker for you, DIRECT STREAM has the best regional sports coverage, though fuboTV may give them a run for their money when they start carrying the Bally sports networks again. Hulu Live and YouTube TV each have a handful as well. Just be warned: they don’t come cheap.

Why isn’t Sling TV’s local coverage better?

To keep their prices low. NBC might be NBC to you, but KVLY-TV in Fargo, North Dakota might as well be Discovery or CNN or HBO to KNAZ-TV in Flagstaff, Arizona — even though they’re both NBC affiliates. And if a TV service wants to carry them, it has to negotiate and contract with both the network HQ, which owns and operates a lot of the stations, as well as individually with all the independently-owned ones.

All of that adds up, and is a big part of why the bigger services cost so much more. Sling prefers to offer free antennas, giving the power and control back to the subscriber.

If Sling TV doesn’t carry Fox or NBC in my area, can I still watch them on their websites?

Unfortunately not. Sling does support TV Everywhere, the universal login system used by TV providers to let subscribers watch programming through their website or app. But TV Everywhere can only provide you access to content you get through your subscription. If your local affiliate isn’t part of your subscription, you won’t be able to access it through TV Everywhere.

Wouldn’t it be cheaper if I just skipped local channels and live sports altogether?

Yes, it would — you just described Philo ($28/month) or Frndly TV ($7.99/month). For most folks, live sports, current news, and local events are the mainstays of broadcast TV, but not for everyone. These services specialize in a variety of fun, entertaining channels at a price that can’t be beat.

What kinds of things can I watch on local channels with Sling TV?

Sling TV allows you to watch a lot of shows, movies, and events. To make it easier to find stuff you will like, we’ve created guides for viewing different kinds of things. That’s especially true when it comes to sports. Read on.

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Have a look at our guides for watching the NFL regular season — like Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and NFL RedZone — as well as special games like Thanksgiving Day football and the Super Bowl itself. We also have how-tos for watching the preseason and the NFL draft.

NFL fans may also be interested in watching the USFL season and XFL season. And Thanksgiving Week isn’t just for football anymore.

Or if you are a basketball fan, take a look at our guides on how to watch every game of the NBA season. That includes the NBA All-Star Game, the NBA Christmas Day games, and LeBron James as he moved toward breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record. Plus a guide to the NBA Play-In Tournament and Playoffs (including the Conference Semifinals and Finals). We also have how-to-stream articles on the WNBA Playoffs and 2024 Draft.

Baseball fans will find guides for MLB Spring Training with a complete schedule of games you can watch on Sling TV.

Hockey fans can get tips on watching the whole NHL season or just the Stanley Cup Playoffs and finals — we’ve got the First Round schedule right here. And after the Stanley Cup comes the NHL Entry Draft. You can also watch the annual Hockey Hall of Fame Induction.

And if you’re into golf, the 2024 PGA Tour, The Masters Tournament (including the Finals), the PGA Championship, US Open, FedEx Tour Championship, Grant Thornton Invitational, and Ryder Cup are on Sling TV, too. You can also watch the entire LPGA Tour.

Tennis, too. We have guides for the Madrid Open, and the Grand Slam events: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon (including the Finals), and US Open.

Sling allows you to watch the 2023 NASCAR season. See our Cup Series schedule for even more details, as well as our guide to the Food Series 500, Toyota Owners 400, Goodyear 400, Coca-Cola 600, Indy 500, and All-Star Race. At the end of the season, we have a Playoffs guide, and how-to-watch pages for the Xfinity Series and Truck Series playoffs and the Cup Series (such as the Shriners Children’s 500 and EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix) and Xfinity Series Championships.

And speaking of racing, we’ve also got a guide and schedule for Formula 1 events the world over. Races such as the Singapore Grand Prix, Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Australian Grand Prix, and the final F1 season race, the Abu Dhabi GP, and three right here in the United States. Plus, the race that tests pure endurance: 24 Hours of Le Mans.

And if NCAA Sports are your thing, we have guides for soccer, ice hockey, volleyball, lacrosse, men’s golf, bowl season, and the Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship. Plus plenty of DI Basketball and March Madness love: Men’s March Madness, Men’s March Madness Schedule (including Elite Eight), and the Women’s Championship Final. And of course, baseball and softball: top games, CWS Selection Show, Men’s College World Series, and Women’s College World Series.

Sling also has horse racing, including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, and Dubai World Cup.

Domestic soccer fans will want to tune in for CONCACAF Gold Cup and Champions Cup.

Fans of international sports can have a particularly hard time finding things on cable. But it’s no problem with Sling. See our guides on English Premier League on Sling TV along with the 2023 season schedule and Boxing Day guide, tune into Ligue 1 for French soccer action, or check out Brasilian soccer (including Brasileirão Série A and its top teams). Not to mention AFCON and the FIFA World Cup itself.

Domestic soccer fans will want to tune in for CONCACAF Gold Cup and Champions Cup.

For more international sports, there’s the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final in Paris. Cricket fans will find much to like in our 2023 season guide along with information about the T20 ICC World Cup Finals, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, and the ODI World Cup and Finals. If you’re a particular fan of the IPL, we’ve got lots for you: IPL 2023, IPL 2023 Schedule, Top IPL Teams in 2023, the history of the IPL.

There’s plenty for cycling fans too, including everything you need to watch the Tour de France.

But it’s not all sports. We have guides for how to watch conservative news, Presidential candidate debates, primary returns, and general election night coverage. And don’t miss special events like Black History Month.

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Frank Moraes

I am a Senior Content Editor at Hotdog.com, specializing in sports streaming and regional programming issues. With a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and extensive experience in remote sensing technology, including early video streaming, I bring a unique technical perspective to the streaming industry.

My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.

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