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Sling TV unveils free streaming option for Roku users

Streaming service also unveils new binge-watching feature.

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Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Steven Musil

Sling TV is offering Roku users free access to programming on the streaming platform without having to begin a subscription.

Roku users who are new to the platform will be able to watch free on-demand shows, movies and even karaoke through the Sling TV app without entering payment information, Sling TV announced Monday. The Dish-owned streaming service also unveiled a new binge-watching feature that will automatically queue up the next episode in an on-demand series.

"Our binge-watching feature will do all the work for you by playing the next episode automatically within 10 seconds, even if you don't select 'Watch Now,'" Jimshade Chaudhari, Sling TV's VP of product management, wrote in a blog post Monday. "This feature will only appear if there is a subsequent episode existing in a series."

Launched in February 2015, Sling TV allows subscribers to watch a collection of live and on-demand TV channels on their TVs, computers, tablets or phones. Users get access to live programming on channels such as ESPN, CNN, AMC, History Channel and Disney Channel -- just like on cable or satellite, only its delivered over the internet instead.

New Sling TV users can watch free on-demand content without surrendering email or credit card information by opening the Sling TV app on a Roku device and clicking "browse as a guest." Sling TV said it plans to expand the offering to additional devices in the future.