Sling TV, the live streaming service owned by Dish, is offering a free premium channel preview every weekend through August, starting this weekend with the Showtime channel.

The Showtime preview will run from Friday, June 24, to Monday, June 27. Following the Showtime weekend, Sling subscribers will get previews of such premium channels as Epix, Hallmark Movies Now, Curiosity Stream, Sundance Now and AMC+, among others.

Sling says most free channel weekends will begin at 9 a.m. ET on Friday and continue through 9 a.m. ET on Monday. The preview will include the live channel and its on-demand programming.

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The streamer now is also offering its first month of service for 50 percent off, which reduces the base price for its Orange or Blue plan to $17.50. (Regular price is $35 a month for each.) If you order both Blue and Orange, the price is $25 for the first month, which is a $25 discount.

“Sling launched in 2015 with one goal in mind: provide people easy access to their favorite shows and content, without a bloated monthly bill,” Gary Schanman, executive vice president and group president of Sling TV, said in a statement. “This sentiment holds true today – if a user wants to subscribe to any of our nearly 50 premium standalone services à la carte, they can do it. And now with Freeview Weekends, our current subscribers can ‘try before they buy’ every Summer weekend with no strings attached by simply turning on Sling to ensure they pay only for what they want to watch.”

The Sling Blue plan provides more than 40 channels including the three major cable news networks, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, as well as leading ‘basic cable’ networks as FS1, Bravo, The Cartoon Network, AMC, TNT, TBS, and your local Fox and NBC affiliates in select markets.

The Sling Orange package offers more than 30 channels, but it includes ESPN, ESPN 2 and ESPN 3, which are must-haves for many sports fans. In addition, the Orange plan has CNN, Comedy Central, TBS, TNT and AMC.

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