Dish Network’s streaming TV service Sling TV is putting out a significant update to the user interface for its app on Apple TV.
First up is the channel grid guide. Sling TV is adding more images and information along with a description and a photo preview of content after it is selected. The service is also making its channel listings larger to make the guide easier to read. That means subscribers will now see five channels at a time in 1.5-hour increments.
Sling TV also moved its filters to the left-hand side of the screen and specific networks’ channel guides are now available by clicking on the channel logo in the grid guide.
Sling TV is also making it simpler for subscribers to manage their ribbons. Instead of having to scroll through all the content to get to the “Manage” buttons, subscribers can select the orange icon at the front of the row to edit favorite channels, view all recordings and edit the content in the continue watching ribbon.
The service also updated its carousel so that scrolling loops back to the beginning instead of users having to scroll back in reverse, while making it easier to know which title within the ribbon is currently selected.
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Sling TV is also updating remote functions for its Apple TV app. Subscribers can now tap the remote touch pad to view more information about what they’re watching, including show name, description, closed caption options and player controls. Users will also be able to see how much they’re rewinding or fast-forwarding and Sling TV will let them know if player controls aren’t available on a certain program.
Jimshade Chaudhari, vice president of product management at Sling TV, said in a blog post that the UI updates will be rolling out to other platforms in the future.
Recently Sling TV partnered with Facebook-owned Oculus to launch its service on the Oculus Go headset. For now, Sling TV is the only vMVPD on the Oculus Go platform. But AT&T—which owns and operates DirecTV Now—has been investing in augmented reality hardware company Magic Leap.