Sling Media expands into social networking, cable modems

Sharon Fisher, BetaNews Senior CES Analyst: Sling Media Inc., which announced its Clip+Sling service at last year's CES, is demonstrating it at this year's.

Similarly to YouTube, Clip+Sling lets users share clips of shows from their Slingbox systems. The Slingbox is a device that lets users remotely view their cable, satellite, or personal video recorder (PVR) programming from an Internet-enabled computer with a broadband Internet connection, known as "placeshifting."

The company is also setting up a Web site, sling.com, to which users can upload clips, but it was not yet available.
Sling also announced a new version of its SlingPlayer software, which is what runs on the Slingbox. In addition to Clip+Sling, SlingPlayer 2.0 includes a program guide and a local video buffer that lets users rewind live TV, much as a person can do with a DVR.

Sling did not address the area of copyright infringement, which has been an issue for YouTube, and which the company had said last year it would address.

Scott Fulton, BetaNews: Sharon, since its acquisition last September by EchoStar, the parent of Dish Network, there's been some concern over whether Sling would continue as a carrier-agnostic producer of equipment. This morning, the company made an effort to dispel that fear by announcing not only that it's also getting into the cable modem business, but that it hopes to work with multi-service operators (MSOs) everywhere.

Essentially, what's being called the SlingModem contains the placeshifting functionality of the original Slingbox, wrapped up in a modem form factor. It eliminates the need for at least one, perhaps two, separate boxes, as customers with a single PC hooked up to their broadband connection would also no longer require a router just for connectivity.