Ohio State players celebrates touchdown by running back Ezekiel Elliott in the second half of the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game against Alabama, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

Sports fans looking to untether from cable television got a big boost on Monday when Dish Network's Sling TV announced that ESPN will be available via a streaming subscription, no cable contract required.

For $20 a month, Dish will offer ESPN, ESPN2, CNN, TNT, Food Network, HGTV and the Cartoon Network to consumers to stream on their laptops and mobile devices. It's a huge step in the cord-cutting movement, the ongoing migration away from cable contracts that require subscribers to pay for hundreds of channels they may never watch.

All broadcast networks and most major cable networks (HBO, Showtime, and so on) offer some form of streaming, either free of charge with ads or via subscription model. But for the most part, sports have been confined to cable; streaming services for sports channels require an existing cable subscription. The Sling model, which is explicitly focused on cord-cutters and young consumers who don't have a pre-existing cable commitment, will upend the traditional method of TV consumption and move subscribers toward an "a la carte" method of channel choice.

“Consumers can now watch their favorite shows on their favorite devices that they already use to watch video. Live television, including ESPN, for $20 per month with no commitment or contract, is a game changer,” said Roger Lynch, chief executive of Sling TV, in a statement. “The arrival of Sling TV lets consumers, who’ve embraced services like Netflix and Hulu, take more control of their video entertainment experience.”

The idea, Sling officials said, is for savvy consumers to combine Sling with Hulu, HBOGo, Netflix, and other streaming apps to create an individually tailored package. That requires a certain degree of willingness to embrace multiple streaming services, but for those already raised in a world of apps, it may not be a huge leap.

ESPN has proven the continuing viability of live sports; the two college football playoff games last weekend rank as the top two cable programs of all time. Now, consumers won't have to remain shackled to a cable provider to see them.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.



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