Does Sling TV Have Network TV? Not yet but it could be coming. In a recent interview with Roger Lynch, CEO of Sling television we had a chance to talk about a number of subjects concerning the service and media streaming in general. But one of the most interesting exchanges involved the discussion of Network TV and local channels. At the moment Sling TV is offering a number of packages that allow customers to add popular cable channels to without the need to have a subscription or huge packages of channels. But they do not offer network affiliate channels, which most of us call “local Channels”.

Will Sling add local channels in the future?
Unfortunately for those looking for that option of Sling TV there are no plans to work out a package that includes locally based programming. These local channels for the most part are affiliates of the major networks like Fox, NBC, ABC and NBC. The local part of these channels usually consists of the local news. So why won’t Sling TV offer customers a way to watch their local news through its service?

Thousands of Deals
Ever wonder why Sony only offers its streaming service (which includes local channel access) in 3 cities? Lynch explained that Sling TV was not looking to offer local channels through the service because of the complicated nature of setting something like this up. What a lot of people do not understand about these channels is that a majority of them are owned by a number of different media companies. Hundreds and hundreds of them. While Sling Television can for instance reach out to Disney in order to set up a deal for ESPN content directly, in order for Sling to offer every market in the country access to their ABC affiliate it would require the company to set up hundreds and hundreds of media deals with independent companies. And the same goes for every other “local” channel.  Now and then you might have noticed a fight between your local channels and your local pay TV provider where both companies claim the other is going to be responsible for the loss of your favorite shows. This is because the pay provider company and the conglomerate that owns the local channel have come to an impasse leading to blackouts and mass frustration.

The Solution
If by local channels you mean that you want to see your favorite network shows the solution is much more simple. Major series like Modern Family are distributed on the network level. So the solution to offering the popular network television shows to viewers is to offer actual feeds from the major networks, not a feed from the local channels. Sling TV is working on this. What they envision is a package that would offer access to Network content from the major networks. This would provide customers the option to watch shows like Modern Family every week at its normal broadcast time. At this point Sling TV does not have deals in place with all of the Network providers but once it does the plan is to offer the content as an add on package. Unfortunately due to the reasons we explained already though do not look for your storm team on Sling TV.