Sling Media is offering cable and satellite companies a facility for getting television to various kinds of mobile gadgets equipment with no need to develop specific video services for each of the mobile gadgets set.
Sling has launched an application for the Apple iPhone recently, at price of US$29.99 despite claim from AT&T that it work only over WiFi and not over the carrier’s 3G network. AT&T said it worried that Sling’s streaming video could hog its bandwidth and lead to dropped calls.
In 2007, Sling was acquired by satellite TV firm EchoStar which then split the company into two public firms namely consumer TV business Dish Networks and Echostar Corporation, which is owner of Sling and is wholly devoted to developing and licensing digital equipment for the television industry.
Under this new owner, Sling is expected to become more important, but the question today is whether EchoStar’s stewardship will propel Sling into most American homes, or just relegate it to the wayside on the road to convergence of TV and the Internet.
The idea of licensing Sling, even if they covet the gadgets technology, might feel a little like climbing into bed with a fierce competitor. But it seems that Echostar understands the sentiment. Probably the biggest obstacle in this business is the politics of common ownership, so the future of Sling and its Internet vision is likely to depend on the issue.
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