Update: As an update to the original story below, I just had a call (or two or three) with Echostar’s Sling Media and their reps. They want to assure us that Slingbox ain’t going anywhere — in fact, they mentioned DISH CEO Joe Clayton stated as much during the press conference that introduced the new Sling TV. What’s happened is that DISH has licensed “Sling” and “Sling TV” from Echostar, who has vacated sling.com, and the Slingbox 500 that became the Sling TV reverts once again to the Slingboox 500. (Although, irrespective of name, I remain concerned with 500/STV sales and continue to recommend their equally capable M1 placeshifter at half the cost for those with a need.)
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Possibly the most disruptive product announcement out of CES this week is DISH’s long foreshadowed Internet television service. And, amongst several surprises, is “Sling TV” branding. I guess it’s nice that DISH chose to repurpose the sling.com Echostar asset… as you’d be horrified to learn what we had paid for that URL. Having said that, it certainly clocked in far less than the questionable “Blockbuster” acquisition — a name which would have made a lot of sense in this space. At the very least, we’re glad to see they backed away from DishWorld and an awful “nuTV“.
But, where it gets real weird is that the Slingbox 500 was renamed… Sling TV… less than six months ago. While I was not impressed with that product at its inflated price point, saying goodbye is hard and I suspect this clearly last minute change-up foreshadows the death of at least one Slingbox. If not all of them.
By the by, the companies have been riffing on “Sling TV” for years. Here’s what it looked like back in 2009.
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Random thoughts...
Last spring I'd wondered if they might use "Blockbuster" versus "DishWorld" ... as Roku kept cranking out remotes with those buttons.
https://zatznotfunny.com/2014-03/roku-streaming-stick-now-shipping/#comment-4179
Also, does anyone know where Echostar ends and DISH begins??
Regarding the Sling TV service itself, I'm still percolating. The price point is much lower than I'd expected... but so are the number of streaming partners. Whereas an Xbox client at launch was a surprise and huge win for them. Will be interesting to see how Sling TV is received by real people (versus pundits). And, of course, DISH is just the first of several who will go down this path.
I suspect the current Fox News v. Dish Network fight has as much to do with where Fox channels fit into Sling TV as it does with carriage fees. Given the current buzz over Sling TV, I predict they'll come to terms by the end of the month, with FX and FXX joining the primary lineup, Fox News in the News bundle, and Fox Sports 1 and 2 in the Sports bundle with ESPNU and ESPNews.
Also, I wrote up a guide to help potential customers figure out if Sling TV is right for them. Here's a link.
http://www.whatyoupayforsports.com/2015/01/is-sling-tv-right-for-you-a-guide-for-potential-cord-cutters/
DISH opened the door, now that they're doing it everybody else will be forced to follow. Expect to see unbundled channels, or smaller/focused-bundles, coming really soon. With internet streaming.
Unfortunately this particular offering is primarily livetv and doesn't offer any DVR functionality, so it's not super attractive. But that will come too; if not from DISH then from directv, or verizon, or intel, or google.