Sling TV today announced that it's giving all its subscribers free access to the Olympic Channel and NBC Universo (that's NBC's Spanish channel) — just in time for the Tokyo Olympics. The two channels normally are available as paid add-ons for the Sling service, with the Olympic Channel a part of the $11-a-month Sling Blue Sports Extra, and NBC Universo available with the $10-a-month Best of Spanish add-on.
The free preview is available for all existing Sling TV customers on domestic, international and Latino plans. The two channels will be available throughout the Tokyo Olympics, with NBC Universo lasting until Monday, Sept. 5, and the Olympic Channel available for free until Sunday, Aug. 8.
As a reminder for scheduling purposes, the Tokyo Olympics are 13 hours ahead of the East Coast of the United States, and 16 hours ahead of the West Coast.
Sling TV, which has a little more than 2 million subscribers, remains one of the least expensive live TV services available in the United States. It's bifurcated into two tracks — Sling Orange, and Sling Blue — with each track mostly costing $35 a month and having different channels. You can get both tracks together for $50 a month. The Sling Orange plan sports 31 channels, while Sling Blue has 43 channels. Together, you'll have access to a total of 51 channels.
That's about half as many as you'll get with, say, YouTube TV, which has somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million subscribers, at last check. YouTube TV costs $65 a month and also has optional premium add-ons.
MORE: YouTube TV vs. Hulu With Live TV
But you can build out your Sling TV experience with all those add-ons, which also vary in channels depending on whether it's an "Orange" add-on or a "Blue" add-on. Those will add up, though, so that $50 bottom line could well balloon if you're not being careful.
Still, free Olympics — the bulk of which will be available on the NBC family of channels — is free Olympics. So kudos to Sling for giving its subscribers juts a little bit more.
