• by Wayne Friedman , February 9, 2015

After some weeks of pre-launch activity, Sling TV -- Dish Network's over-the-top cloud-based TV service -- has started up officially for U.S. consumers at a basic $20 a month for a handful of channels.

These include ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Adult Swim, AMC, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, ABC Family, CNN, El Rey and Galavision. Consumers also gain access to Sling TV’s video-on-demand library.

Sling TV has announced three add-on packages, each for $5 more a month -- Kids Extra, News & Info Extra, and Sports Extra.

Kids programming includes: Disney Junior, Disney XD, Boomerang, Baby TV, and Duck TV; News & Info Extra has HLN, Cooking Channel, DIY and Bloomberg TV; and Sports Extra includes SEC Network, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Bases Loaded, Univision Deportes, Universal Sports and beIN Sports.

Streaming devices that work with Sling TV include Roku, Android, iOS, Mac and PC, and soon it will support Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.

Dish Network is now second in the market of big players offering OTT cloud-based TV service. CBS All Access started up late last year for $5.99 a month. Time Warner’s HBO and Sony Entertainment are also prepping new services.

Big new providers are targeting those U.S. TV consumers who have been “cord-cutters” of pricey pay TV services or those “cord-shavers” — those who want to trim back on big expensive TV packages. Estimates are that they number around 10 million or so.