Sling Media in ‘Wide-Ranging’ Talks with Potential Partners

Buchanan declined to identify potential partners or the timing for such deals, but EchoStar and Liberty Media were among investors in a $46.6 million Sling funding round earlier this year. Liberty Media has been said in recent weeks to be angling to swap News Corp.’s stake in DirecTV for its own in News Corp. The brick-like Slingbox lets users watch home TV programming anywhere via access to a broadband connection.

Sling Media, Buchanan said, is “working very hard” to secure partnerships to embed the technology in other products. “We've always said that that’s a natural direction for the technology to go,” Buchanan said. “We're working very hard to make that happen because our objective is to see the Slingbox disappear in as few years as we can and we, as an organization will be on to different and more bold projects and initiatives.” On EchoStar, Buchanan said there haven’t been “any specific announcements” on Sling Media “dealing directly” with the satellite service provider. But Sling Media has a “great relationship” with EchoStar installers who resell the Slingbox product, Buchanan said.

The partnership discussions come as Sling ships 3 new models, including the Slingbox Tuner ($180), Slingbox AV ($180) and Slingbox Pro ($250), each targeting different needs. The Slingbox Tuner accepts only analog cable (or antenna) TV signals and a single screw-type RF input. The Slingbox AV, like the original, controls any satellite or cable box and gets video signals via composite or S-Video. The step-up Slingbox Pro can handle as many as 4 AV sources, including, for the first time, HD video up to 1080i. The original Slingbox, which sold more than 100,000 units in the 6 months following its launch July 1, 2005, is being closed out at $139-$149 at a range of retailers including Amazon.com, Best Buy and CompUSA, Buchanan said. The original box is in “very limited supply,” he said.

New Slingbox products continue with a Texas Instruments DSP, but one “significantly faster and more powerful” than that TI chip in the original, said Buchanan, declining to give details. The original Slingbox also contained a Philips tuner and Micron SDRAM.

Slingbox Pro has S-Video and RF coaxial connectors, and one input that looks like an HDMI port but isn’t. The port, which won’t accept HDMI signals, is designed to connect with a proprietary dongle that provides component video in and out. The $50 dongle, when connected, accepts all standard HDTV resolutions: 720p and 1080i, but not 1080p. Included with the Slingbox Pro is an IR blaster that controls attached devices remotely, allowing the user to change channels, pause, play, fast-forward, rewind, etc. The Slingbox Pro, like the original but unlike the lower-priced versions, has pass-through outputs for all audio and video connection. Native video resolution was boosted to 640x480 standard definition, with support for widescreen material. The original model delivered 320x240 resolution.

In a departure from the Slingbox Pro, the Slingbox AV features an uncluttered design. It has a single AV input with S-Video. The device can toggle between composite and video input, but because they share audio jacks, a Y-cable adapter is needed. Since it doesn’t offer pass-through outputs, the Slingbox AV requires a video source to have an unused composite output. The Slingbox Tuner is for cable services.

The 3 Slingbox models use Slingplayer software for Windows XP/2000 PCs, although Buchanan said the company has “spectacular plans” to accompany Microsoft’s release of the Vista operating system next year. Sling will release a beta version of its Slingplayer software for Apple Macintosh PCs in Oct. Sling planned to have the software out Q2, but postponed delivery as Apple struck an chip supply agreement with Intel. As a result, the Slingplayer software will work with PowerPC-based machines as well as newer Intel models, the company said. “It’s been a number of industry changes that caused us to rethink the development path” for Mac PCs, he said.

Sling has software ($29) for Pocket PC-based devices, including those that run Windows Mobile 2003 and 5.0. The software can be downloaded to cellphones including those fielded by Palm (Treo 700w), Audiovox 6700 and the Samsung i730 and Windows-based smartphones like the Motorola Q. It also can be downloaded to notebook PC and transferred to cellphone via USB connector. The software comes with a 30- day free trial. Sling plans a “other platform announcements” by year’s end, including those related cellphones and notebook PCs, Buchanan said. “Our objective is to touch as many of the screens in a consumer’s life as we can and cellphones and laptops are definitely 2 primary targets for us,” he said.