Sling Media made headlines last year when it announced a device that allowed television content to be viewed remotely on a PC. Now, the company is taking aim at mobile media devices.
In a report prior to the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show, Reuters said new software from Sling Media will allow consumers to use a wide range of mobile devices to watch home television programming anywhere in the world. The capability will come in a software upgrade to the existing Slingbox hardware product.
The new mobile client works with any device that uses Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Platform versions 4.0 or 5.0. A visual version of a remote control pops up on the screen allowing the user to choose whether to watch television live from their home cable set-top box or satellite receiver or a program previously recorded on a DVR. It will allow consumers to watch their home TiVo from the back seat of a car driving on the highway.
Unlike the iPod, there are no per program charges to view programming with the Sling system. Sling Media does not collect any fees beyond the initial $250 purchase price of the hardware.
Sling Media plans to release a PAL version of its Slingbox for the European market at the CES convention. To protect the content, every Slingbox has a unique identifier and password, and each one can connect only to one device at a time.