A major milestone happened two years ago in the world of cord cutting. If you had told cord cutters two years ago that ESPN, FS1, HBO, CNN, and pretty much every cable TV channel would be legally available to cord cutters many of them would have likely laughed at you; however, two years later not only do cord cutters have access to these great channels but also many of them will soon be available from seven different streaming services.

This milestone that changed cord cutting forever was the announcement in January 2015 that Sling TV would be coming to the US market. Even if you are not a fan of Sling TV you really should thank the service for changing the future of cord cutting. If Sling TV had failed it is likely that many of the services cord cutters enjoy today would have had second thoughts about coming to market.

We asked Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch what he thought of the last 5 years and this is what he said. “When we started down this path seven years ago, we thought we had a pretty good idea of how we would lead the industry with an over-the-top service. While it took longer than anticipated (5 years) to get the programming deals lined up, we finally launched. But you never know with these things. As they say, timing is everything and when you’re the one leading the way, you’re never 100 percent sure it’s going to work out. Thankfully, our timing was right and we received a tremendous reception from consumers who have signed up and continue to sign up for Sling TV.”

Sling TV has come a long way from when it launched. Back in January 2015 Roku was the only streaming media player supported. Now almost every streaming player imaginable is supported. At launch every channel only offered one stream. Now most of the channels offer three streams. From just a handful of channels to now offering over a 100 channels. Including many of the most popular channels like HBO, FS1, FX, Hallmark, Pac-12, and many other popular channels have joined the service.

We could go on about all the changes Sling TV has made, but what is clear is Sling is always improving its service. Every month something new is announced. Recently the big announcements have been the addition of a DVR and a new streaming media player called AirTV.

Being the first into a new market is often harder than being the next one up. The success of the first company often clears the path for new services to have an easier time making new contracts and reveals many of the pitfalls for future services to avoid. Sling TV cleared the way for many companies that are now jumping into the live TV over-the-top market.

So no matter what you think of Sling TV as a cord cutter you do have to appreciate how it changed the face and future of cord cutting. Now two years later cord cutters have access to channels and sports that before Sling TV we could never even dream of.

Looking Forward

As we sit here two years later we likely have not seen anything yet. Cord cutting is changing rapidly and over the next five years we are likely to see new services that cord cutters today can only dream of. Just like how cord cutters two years ago could only dream of a legal way to watch HBO live or access ESPN for their favorite sports coverage what will come is something cord cutters likely can not even imagine now.

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