Tuesday, September 25, 2007

What Does Selling Out Do to Sling Media's Future?

Sling Media was purchased by Dish Network parent EchoStar for $380 million. I'm fearful that the acquisition could limit the useful Slingbox' future.

Sling Media, through its Slingbox devices, is all about freeing content by enabling television content to be relayed from a home TV to any Internet computer. I was hopeful that a company such as TiVo, Google or Blinkx would buy Sling Media and use the technology in both directions -- to watch any 'Net content on your TV as well. We desperately need an open platform for moving content between the Internet and TV, and I was hopeful that Sling Media would be the answer.

Being owned by EchoStar complicates deals with other content partners such as CBS. While the Dish Network service isn't "old media," it is not on the cutting edge of TV/Internet integration. Hopefully Sling Media will change EchoStar more than the reverse.

By John Gartner at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

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