Sling to demonstrate remote TV for BlackBerry

California-based Sling Media Inc., maker of the popular SlingBox place-shifting hardware device, has officially announced its intention to demonstrate SlingPlayer for BlackBerry and a new HD SlingBox at CES 2008 next week.

Sling Media announced that it will be showing off SlingPlayer Mobile on a BlackBerry Pearl 8120, with a release slated for later this year. Sling intends to extend its service for watching and programming TV remotely through the popular e-mail handset.

The company has already produced a SlingPlayer client for Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Symbian OS. With the addition of a BlackBerry client, the majority of commonly-used mobile operating systems will be supported. Like the other platforms, SlingPlayer for BlackBerry will not incur a monthly charge, and will cost $29.99.

Also expected from Sling is the SlingBox PRO HD, which will differ from the SlingBox Solo and PRO models in that it will be capable of streaming out 1080i video in real time. The new device is to be released in the third quarter of 2008 for a reported $400. BetaNews will provide further updates and specifications from CES.