Why is sling not on vizio smart tv

Big news for cord-cutters: Vizio has announced that its SmartCast platform will now have direct access to a native Sling TV app.

Before now, it was possible to cast Sling TV from your smart device to a SmartCast-enabled Vizio TV, but now you’ll be able to find a built-in Sling TV app that will come preloaded on all new Vizio TVs from here on out.

If you're using an older Vizio TV and want to download the Sling TV app, just head into the Apps section of the home screen and download it from there.

In terms of pricing, there are two core Sling TV packages: Sling Orange and Sling Blue (opens in new tab). Both cost $35 a month, but they’re comprised of slightly different offerings. It's worth looking over both packages to see which one has the channels you're interested in, or pick the Sling Orange + Blue package that combines both for $50.

It probably goes without saying, but the intersection between cord-cutters with a Vizio TV who subscribe to Sling TV is likely a very narrow one. Still, it is a nice feature for that group and makes for an enticing offer for cord-cutters.

It might not have been all that difficult to get Sling TV on SmartCast previously - all you had to do was Cast it from your smartphone or tablet - but having a built-in app could allow customers who don’t always have access to their phones throughout the day the ability to keep watching Sling TV. 

That might be a good solution for restaurant owners who have different managers coming and going throughout the day, or for families who want to watch different channels on their TV without finding the smartphone to change the channel.

The one caveat? There’s no word on how good the native app’s performance is quite yet - Sling TV’s performance is known to be slightly erratic on other platforms - however, we’ll be keeping an eye on it to see how the rollout goes.

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Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar's sister site, Tom's Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He's also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he's not using if anyone wants it.