Jon Healey, reporting for the LA Times, takes Dish Network’s new Sling TV service for a spin.

What Sling TV does, and does well, is deliver a stripped-down sampling of the pay-TV universe — the basic package includes only a dozen cable networks, plus an on-demand movie service and some original online programming — to a TV, laptop or mobile device. I’ve been playing with the service for the last few days, and was pleasantly surprised by the picture quality (with some exceptions) and the nimble user interface.

We are at the dawn of a brave new era. An era of cord cutting and à la carte stream purchasing direct from the content producer (as opposed to via a cable provider – think HBO vs Comcast). Things are just unfolding. Sling TV is just another step along the path, but an important one.