placeshifting streaming media computer hardware mobile app founded 2004 ; 12 years ago 2004 founders blake krikorian jason krikorian bhupen shah headquarters foster city california united states key people jay berryhill vice president of sales and business development paddy rao vice president of products and engineering mark vena vice president of worldwide marketing products slingbox m1 slingplayer apps for ios android and kindle fire dish sling adapter dish xip 913 arris ms4000 number of employees 275 parent echostar 2007 present website slingbox.com sling media inc. is a technology company that develops placeshifting and smart tv solutions for consumers multiple system operators and set top box manufacturers . the company is a subsidiary of echostar corporation acquired in the fall of 2007 and is based in foster city california . their initial product the slingbox debuted on the us market on july 1 2005 . contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 retail slingbox hardware 2.1.1 second generation av tuner and pro 2.1.2 third generation solo and pro hd 2.1.3 fourth generation 350 and 500 2.1.4 fifth generation slingbox m1 2.1.5 slingtv and the slingbox 500 2.2 other hardware and accessories 2.3 slingplayer apps 2.3.1 viewing on the desktop slingplayer for desktop and watch 2.3.2 slingplayer for mobile 2.4 oem solutions 3 criticism and controversy 4 broadcasting 5 clip sling 6 placeshifting patent litigation 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit the company was founded in 2004 by brothers blake and jason krikorian from san francisco along with bhupen shah 1 who had the relationships to help establish sling s presence in bangalore . the idea for sling originated during the 2002 major league baseball season when the krikorian brothers who are dedicated san francisco giants fans often traveled far from home and faced missing the best games of the season . 2 on september 24 2007 echostar announced an agreement to acquire sling media for approximately 380 million usd . 3 blake and jason left the company in january 2009 . 4 on august 3 2016 blake krikorian died of a heart attack at age 48 . 5 products edit retail slingbox hardware edit see also slingbox the original slingbox now referred to as the slingbox classic was released july 1 2005 . it was designed by yves b har 6 and had the appearance of a foil wrapped chocolate bar . second generation av tuner and pro edit improvement came with the introduction of the second generation line of sling media products the slingbox av the slingbox tuner and the slingbox pro . while the slingbox av became a simplified unit with s video and composite inputs only the slingbox tuner provided service for the other end of the spectrum with only a single coaxial input for use by basic cable and antenna only applications . the slingbox pro introduced a four input design combining the capabilities of the av and tuner units while also allowing for the connection of high definition sources with the use of an accessory cable adding component and digital audio inputs . third generation solo and pro hd edit in 2007 sling introduced the slingbox solo a third generation box that was a streamlined version of the slingbox pro . 7 it provided a high quality standard definition video stream and a lower price point . this model was followed up in 2008 by the slingbox pro hd a high end device that supported placeshifting hdtv 1080i video and currently is the only slingbox to include an atsc tuner for over the air hdtv broadcasts . 8 the slingbox solo was also later repackaged as the slingbox 120 for special vertical and international markets . 9 an unknown number of the third generation slingboxes were susceptible to the capacitor plague . while many enthusiasts replaced these capacitors on their own 10 11 sling later addressed these issues in support . remanufactured and refurbished third generation slingboxes have been fixed as well . fourth generation 350 and 500 edit in october 2012 sling media launched the slingbox 350 and 500 to replace the slingbox solo and pro hd . with the digital television transition in the united states the desirability of a standard definition focused product no longer existed in sling s main market . therefore both boxes include hdtv capability though the atsc digital tuner that was included in the pro hd was not included in either slingbox . the slingbox 350 is the base product with one sd hd audio video input composite or component and an ethernet port to connect to the internet . the slingbox 500 was positionined a platform for next generation smart tv capabilities . in addition to placeshifting the slingbox 500 included streaming apps from dish digital including dishworld and blockbuster on demand as well as the ability to manage and view personal media including video . the slingbox 500 had wi fi networking and hdmi passthrough capabilities . however because of restrictive hdcp drm sling still recommends that customers use component cables for placeshifting . 12 fifth generation slingbox m1 edit in july 2014 sling media launched the award winning 13 slingbox m1 to replace the slingbox 350 . with the introduction of this slingbox the entire line of slingbox hardware now support wi fi connectivity . in addition users were now able to configure a slingbox m1 using the slingplayer for ipad iphone and android phone as well as the slingplayer for desktop that was reintroduced at the same time . 14 slingtv and the slingbox 500 edit also introduced in july 2014 slingtv was a free upgrade to the slingbox 500 that provides a graphical user interface and information overlays for living room tv viewing in addition to providing place shifting capabilities . the interface also provides recommendations based on aggregate viewing data popularity and social activity . it was released in september 2014 to current slingbox 500 customers . 14 15 16 with the licensing of the sling brand to dish network 17 for the sling television ott service the slingtv box reverted to the slingbox 500 product name . other hardware and accessories edit in 2008 sling introduced the slingcatcher a hardware device to view content from a remote slingbox as well as personal media . the product garnered mixed reviews from its limited capabilities including no support for hdtv complex nature and its price . 18 because early slingboxes did not support wi fi connecting them to a network was difficult if a customer did not have an ethernet jack near their set top box . to address these needs sling released the slinglink line of power line adapters . 19 with the release of a wi fi enabled slingbox 500 the product was discontinued and is no longer supported . slingplayer apps edit viewing on the desktop slingplayer for desktop and watch edit when the original slingbox classic was launched customers used free downloadable software for windows or macintosh to access video that was streamed from the slingbox . that application was phased out with the introduction of the slingbox watch website which utilized an npapi plug in for video streaming . because of the discontinuation of the npapi support on chrome and demand from customers sling reintroduced the slingplayer for desktop application for windows and apple mac os x with the launch of the slingbox m1 . 20 however the relaunched desktop application is only compatible with the slingbox m1 models . in addition sling has also added banner ads and periodic pre roll video ads when using the watch website . slingplayer for mobile edit customers can also purchase the slingplayer apps for their mobile smartphones and tablets . supported platforms include ios iphone and ipad android phones and tablets kindle fire and microsoft windows 8.1 tablets . 21 previously supported platforms include blackberry palm os and symbian . slingplayer apps also have the ability to cast their video stream to a tv screen through a smart tv streaming box . supported platforms include appletv via airplay ios slingplayer apps only roku devices which requires a roku customer to download a slingplayer for roku app there were several native apps for connected devices that can view and control a remote slingbox . those devices included 22 wd tv live sony internet player with google tv netgear neotv boxee box logitech revue these apps have been deprecated as of july 2014 and will no longer be supported . 22 oem solutions edit in addition to developing products and services for consumers sling also provides multiple system operators and set top box manufacturers a solution for mobile viewing of licensed content and the integration of smart tv technologies . these capabilities include an sdk cloud infrastructure and engineering resources . sling s technology is currently embedded in the following products dish network sling adapter for vip 722 vip 722k and xip 813 hopper set top boxes . 23 also known as the slingbox 700u . dish network xip 913 hopper with sling set top box 24 25 dish network vip 922 26 dish anywhere 27 arris ms4000 28 29 criticism and controversy edit early in its history the slingbox caused widespread speculation of its possible legal implications . 30 high on the list of issues cited by critics was the ability to provide a loophole around proximity control potentially allowing people outside the approved viewing area for events especially sports in which distribution traditionally has been restricted by time and region . however the practice of placeshifting is not unlike that of timeshifting which has been upheld in courts across the world due to the personal nature of a timeshifted rebroadcast which is deemed non infringing fair use . furthermore sling media s technology limits access to a single authorized user which prevents unauthorized or multi user access thereby maintaining the personal nature of the placeshifted content . broadcasting edit ironically given the controversy the retail slingbox hardware has found an unexpected niche market in television broadcasting . broadcast engineers at several tv stations have installed them at remote towercam locations to observe traffic and weather conditions . kpix tv in san francisco has several connected with wireless networking using ev do via a cellular network mobile phone provider . this costs only a few hundred dollars for each site versus well over ten thousand for a setup with a remote pickup unit and auxiliary broadcast licenses . however the system is not yet reliable or broadband enough to handle live remote broadcasts . cable tv providers are also using it to provide proof of performance for companies that run tv ads on their systems . 31 32 33 it is also used with amateur television transmissions . there are also hosted slingbox services where the slingbox and set top box are hosted in a data centre on behalf of the user . this means that the management of the devices is done by the host and that the user can access tv streams from their hosted slingbox wherever whenever and whatever device pc mobile tv they want . 34 clip sling edit during the 2007 consumer electronics show the firm announced a future feature named clip sling . it allows users to share clips of their favorite tv shows with each other through a hosted web service . the announcement was made during leslie moonves keynote speech . 35 36 on december 2 2008 sling media announced the public launch of sling.com an online video entertainment destination . users can go to sling.com to watch clips tv shows films news and sports . this includes video programming from over 90 content providers spanning 150 content brands . in addition to the on demand offerings slingbox owners could connect to their slingbox through the website making their slingboxes available without a software client download . 37 however clip sling was never launched and sling.com eventually became the home of the web based watch player . 38 this signaled sling