Sling TV won't end cable as we know it. But something like it will.

Sling TV is caught in a middle ground between the cable model and the online streaming model, able to borrow some good things from both but also hampered by not having the chief advantages of either. It's also not clear how long this particular middle ground will even exist, as TV plunges toward its online future.

Most of the problems with Sling TV are, so far, problems with contracts. A lot of the missing content is missing because its owners are still wary of licensing it to streaming services. As content providers become more comfortable, Sling TV should be able to expand its library. It's even possible the service will come to function like a DVR that lives in the cloud somewhere along the line. For now, Sling is mostly interesting for what it represents, not for what it is just yet. It doesn't seem likely this is the service that will make cable television go the way of the dinosaurs, but something like this will probably do that someday. It's just a question of who gets there first, and Sling TV is getting a head start.