Thanks to the pandemic, many streaming services have started adding a way to watch content with others, while you are not together. And Sling TV is the latest to do it. Today, the company announced Sling Watch Party. Which really looks like a mashup of Zoom, texting and Live TV all in one app.
Sling Watch Party allows you to see others in your party, as well as texting with them. So you can talk about what you’re watching without talking over the TV. Which is a good thing.
Sling Watch Party is limited to what the host subscribes to
There are a few caveats to Sling Watch Party. But you can watch any channel that is included in the hosts subscription to Sling TV. So if you want to watch something in the Sports Extra package, but if the host doesn’t subscribe to it, then you won’t be able to watch it.
Otherwise, you can watch anything in Sling Blue, Sling Orange, or Sling Latino, among the many other packages available from Sling.
As mentioned there is video and text chat, so you can connect with others in real time, while watching a movie or TV show. There are also audio and visual controls, so all participants have full control over their own video camera, the volume of their individual content stream and also the volume of video chat streams from other participants.
When it comes to playing or pausing the program, only the host is able to do that. It does also have rewind for on-demand programming.
What platforms does it work on?
Unfortunately, this new feature currently only works on Google Chrome. Which means that you can’t do this from your TV or smartphone.
Just select on any live or on-demand title from Sling TV, and then click on the “Create Watch party” button from the title’s information screen. And from there you’ll be able to invite up to three additional guests. Now click “Start Watching”, and you’l be able to watch with a party of up to four people.
There is a special beta preview of Sling Watch Party, which ends on September 30. Where invited guests can attend a Watch Party simply by creating a Sling TV account.
The good thing here is that this won’t cost you anything extra, to watch TV with your friends and family. It is included in the regular price of Sling TV.