Sling Media Launches SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone and iPod touch

[Scott Greczkowski]

Sling Media Launches SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone and iPod touch

Foster City, Calif., Wednesday, May 13, 2009 — Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), today announced the availability of a WiFi-only version of its SlingPlayer Mobile application for iPhone™ and iPod® touch at the iPhone App Store. Now iPhone and iPod touch users have access to their entire home TV experience in the palm of their hand.

“With the addition of SlingPlayer Mobile to the iPhone and the iPod touch, our customers have the widest choice possible for viewing on the go,” said John Gilmore, senior vice president and general manager at Sling Media. “The SlingPlayer Mobile application gives users access to the full spectrum of viewing, including local channels, local sports teams, video on demand and pay per view, right from their iPhone or iPod touch, as well as the ability to watch and control their home digital video recorder (DVR).”

How it Works

When in a WiFi enabled area (hot spot) connected to a Slingbox SOLO, PRO, or PRO-HD, the SlingPlayer Mobile software allows you to watch and control your living room television on your iPhone or iPod touch. Change channels, control your DVR and watch your favorite shows right on your iPhone or iPod touch. For more information, technical requirements or to purchase or upgrade a Slingbox, visit Sling Media - Home of the Slingbox.

Pricing and Availability

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone and iPod touch is priced at $29.99 and is available now for a one-time download at the iPhone App Store.

About Sling Media
Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), is a leading digital lifestyle company offering consumer services and products that are a natural extension of today's digital way of life. Sling Media's product family includes the internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning Slingbox™ that allows consumers to watch and control their living room television shows at any time, from any location, using PCs, Macs, PDAs and smartphones. Sling Media is also the company behind the video entertainment web site, Sling.com, offering consumers a wide variety of popular TV shows, movies and other entertainment free for viewing online. For more information on Sling Media, visit Sling Media - Home of the Slingbox. To watch your favorite TV shows and movies, check out Sling - Watch full episodes, movies, and clips of your favorite TV and online shows.

 

[Koilvr]

$30 bucks? kinda high. I do not have sling I have HAVA instead, was going to get the app but since the app is $30, and hava has better picture quality then the sling I will wait. I used to have a slingbox and I tested both. Hava still has better picture quality then sling. I did this test around January when circuit city was going Banko and picked up a hava platinum HD wireless for $75 bucks. Sling is Overpriced IMO.

 

[Keifuz]

money grab

$29.99, won't work with older slingbox's (because they just don't want to, it worked in beta testing), and only works on wifi, not 3G.... All adds up to a loser to me. Time will tell.

 

[rrmills]

$29.99, won't work with older slingbox's (because they just don't want to, it worked in beta testing), and only works on wifi, not 3G.... All adds up to a loser to me. Time will tell.

It does work with older Slingboxes, just can't get tech support for it.

 

[djjenkins]

Without 3G support the $30 price tag is WAY too much. I know that is not Sling's fault, it is AT&T. But I will have my laptop anywhere I go where there is Wifi, so why would I chose to watch it on my phone?

The only REALLY appealing thing about this application is if it ran on 3G. As it, $30 is just way unreasonable.

I completely blame AT&T on this one. Basically, they said their network was too lame to have all these iPhone customers slinging their content. YOU NEED TO UPGRADE AT&T! The only reason that Blackberry's are allowed to Sling over 3G on AT&T is because not nearly as many people who have Blackberry's are this tech savvy to sling. But iPhone users have shown to REALLY use their phones to the max, and it scares AT&T that their networks would die if they allowed it.

Oh well.

 

[Keifuz]

It does work with older Slingboxes, just can't get tech support for it.

Well, that's good to know... I'm slightly more tempted, but I'll wait till they drop the price- significantly. Like the other post above, I can use my notebook for free on wifi... It really doesn't make a lot of sense. I'd pay maybe 5-10 bucks, but that's it. But to show how important it is to me, I haven't had my slingbox even hooked up for a year, so maybe I'm not the target audience.

 

[hendrix04]

Without 3G support the $30 price tag is WAY too much. I know that is not Sling's fault, it is AT&T. But I will have my laptop anywhere I go where there is Wifi, so why would I chose to watch it on my phone?

The only REALLY appealing thing about this application is if it ran on 3G. As it, $30 is just way unreasonable.

I completely blame AT&T on this one. Basically, they said their network was too lame to have all these iPhone customers slinging their content. YOU NEED TO UPGRADE AT&T! The only reason that Blackberry's are allowed to Sling over 3G on AT&T is because not nearly as many people who have Blackberry's are this tech savvy to sling. But iPhone users have shown to REALLY use their phones to the max, and it scares AT&T that their networks would die if they allowed it.

Oh well.

The reason blackberry users are allowed to is that they have no real way to stop it.

Hack you iphone and use the sling software over 3g

 

[digiblur]

The Windows Mobile slingplayer app I have used for the past year and a half is also 30 bucks after your 30 day trial. I find it worth it but that one works on 3G. They should have changed it to $10 for WiFi only. What I find weird is Sling had to know about this as they were the ones that had to make it WiFi only. But yet they said nothing.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They should have changed it to $10 for WiFi only. What I find weird is Sling had to know about this as they were the ones that had to make it WiFi only. But yet they said nothing.

The issue is that when AT&T finally get its head out of its ass and allows Sling via 3G the update will be free for those who purchased it at $29.99 from the iPhone store.

 

[Camdog916]

There is another app on the Itunes store called SRemote. Does it work just like the Sling Player app?

 

[theedge103]

Was excited about this until I heard it was gonna be $30! That is insane compared to other device Slingplayer costs... also WiFi only? I'll pass! You can jailbreak your phone to use the Slingplayer on 3G but I don't really wanna do that.

 

[gfearz]

Has there been any word on applications for other platforms such as Palm OS. Slingbox supports several including Palm. I hope that Sling/EchoStar combo doesn't mean that Sling will slow down in the innovation dept. I would love a 922 but having to change my pda, in order to utilize the sling guide and remote viewing may be a deal breaker for me.

 

[TheKrell]

Has this thread gotten a lot shorter since this afternoon, or am I confabulating? (I was hoping to discuss the AT&T TOS wrt the iPhone SlingPlayer.)

 

[goaliebob99]

Has this thread gotten a lot shorter since this afternoon, or am I confabulating? (I was hoping to discuss the AT&T TOS wrt the iPhone SlingPlayer.)

No this is a different thread

 

[Jerry1Gman]

Its ture.

AT&T rationalizes blocking SlingPlayer from 3G network
AT&T rationalizes blocking SlingPlayer from 3G network

 

[jacmyoung]

So this thing is now one of the best selling iPhone apps despite the $29.99 price tag, why no one is talking about it?