Sling’s big-picture view of video on offer at nextMEDIA

For many Canadians attending nextMEDIA earlier this month, a Sling Media Inc. executive's presentation was the first time they'd been privy to details of the firm's upcoming Clip+Sling offering. Indeed, many in the audience referred to the service as "the big story" of the conference.It's not a new tale, however: Sling first announced Clip+Sling - which gives users the ability to record, edit and publish or share video clips from any computer or mobile device equipped with the firm's Sling Player software - at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) conference in Las Vegas in January. The firm also launched an invitation-only beta testing program shortly after that.Ben White, chief creative officer at the Foster City CA-based company, said during his nextMEDIA presentation that the one sticking point keeping many in the broadcast community from embracing Sling's offerings is the rights issue."Everyone is standing on the edge wondering if they should jump," he said during an Executive Download session on the conference's final day, referring to broadcasters making the leap from foe to friend of Sling's technology.However, White added, the consumer appetite for portability and customization of video content is proceeding apace, with or without the input of broadcasters. "The genie is out of the bottle...clip culture is here to stay." He said Sling already works with a broadcaster-friendly model, by passing through digital rights management and keeping Nielsen ratings intact during Slingbox viewing.Speaking off-stage after his presentation, White noted that the explosion of online video clips, despite the difficulty in creating them, is a testament to the size of the market. "There are a lot of obstacles there - you have to have a TV tuner card connected to your PC, and you have to have editing software, you have to know your way around encoding for the Web," he said. "Even so, look how much video content is out there."While the Clip+Sling service may have been announced some time ago, there was some news fresh for nextMEDIA. On June 6, just a few days before White's appearance in Banff, Sling announced a partnership with the National Hockey League, which will be the first big-name sports content provider for the service.White lauded the NHL's decision to work with Sling, instead of against it. "They've really embraced it - you've got to give credit to them," he said. "They look at a technology like this and they go ‘We care about our fans, and their passion for the game, and we want to create more outlets for them to share that passion with one another.'"The NHL's embrace of Sling technology stands in contrast to other sports leagues, most notably Major League Baseball, which began making noises last year about the legality of the Slingbox's ability to allow what it called "transmission-shifting," distinct from place-shifting in that it moves content not just from place to place, but from platform to platform. The crux of MLB's argument: use our content on more than one platform, pay more than one fee for the privilege.While Sling's new product announcements are interesting in and of themselves, what's perhaps most intriguing is the company's concerted effort to move beyond one-trick pony status and take a more holistic view of digital content delivery to various platforms in the home.Another product announced during CES in January was the Slingcatcher, which mimics the brick-like trapezoid Slingbox in general appearance. According to White, the new device "is like a portal back to your TV set...it's the reverse Slingbox."The Slingcatcher works by aggregating content from your home computer's hard drive or an Internet connection then feeding it back to your PVR, making it a competitor to offerings such as Apple Inc.'s Apple TV. The big difference between the two, however, is that the Slingcatcher works with nearly every video codec, while Apple TV is designed around the company's proprietary Quicktime technology and its iTunes online content store.But as IPTV technology ramps up in North America, set-top box makers are incorporating VoIP and broadband routing into their offerings. While that means Sling's product line could face stiffer competition in the future, White is philosophical about his firm's ability to adapt and innovate."Consumers are in control - they want more functionality out of their set-top boxes...and they're starting to expect the kind of interactivity that they're used to from the Web on their television," he said. "With those expectations, there will be born a market, and when there's a market there's going to be products. We embrace the challenge."

Sling’s big-picture view of video on offer at nextMEDIA

Broadcast | June 29, 2007

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