SlingMedia’s ambitious new video portal, Sling.com, is set to launch on November 10, we’ve heard (the original launch date was November 3, but was pushed back for some reason).
The site, which is currently in private beta, brings in videos from Hulu, CBS and other sites, providing a very comprehensive group of TV shows and films. And users can also access their own home cable/satellite via their SlingBox.
More details soon. See our previous post on Sling.com here.
I tried it out, and it’s nice, but I don’t see the need. Hulu already does this much better than Sling. They should just focus on the online SlingPlayer.
Sling’s nice – very user friendly
But not something that I’ll use every day – or even more than once a week… simply because I’d rather browse and watch from YouTube than sit through an entire 1-hour prog. – unless it’s a BBC news prog.
While this has potential based on how well it’s been executed, I’m probably more interested in the reverse – getting online video content from Hulu, CBS, ABC, CW etc on my TV using a simple STB. I would totally get a SlingBox if they had such a two-way option.
Sounds counterproductive, I know – but to me, it’s like a DVR without the service fees, no hard drive limitations, and I get to watch my shows whenever I want, albeit having to deal with very short ads (that are completely tolerable).
I think Boxee on Apple TV is a good start in that direction, but I’d like to see official support and higher quality video from all these sites. Eventually, we might even get to ditch the cable company altogether – wouldn’t that be great?!
They already do that.
Sling makes a device called the Sling Catcher that is a Sling Box in reverse, taking content from your PC/Laptop and broadcasting it to the TV.
I checked it out also and NOTHING new or differentiating here. Just seems like video.google.com, but by a company not from the internet world.
Sling.com is just a aggregater.
Hulu is still the best out there.
lets hope they offer “full search” widget box embed players for users like hulu does. i like it when users can search and watch the shows without ever leaviing your website.
LikeLocator.com
feels like Microsoft entering something new…..Hulu will win
So I guess this is the reason why their Mac client is so far behind. Sling is too busy dumping money in to a pie in the sky web play..
Sling is owned by DISH Network.
I bet Dish is realizing their long term future looks very poor if they don’t get online.
They better hurry FAST! Last I checked the 12-22 year olds watch all their content online.
Bad news for DISH and Directv.
Came here to post this. I don’t think that sling will ever be anything to write home about unless DISH pours some more money into it. In all likelihood though, they will probably never have the market share that youtube and hulu have.
cool, i look forward into it.
@Menhir Sling’s stuff is great if you use a cable/sat box, but if you want to take the net to the TV, you should check out boxee. It’s a media aggregator and brings a 10-foot (remote control) UI to many of the sites like Hulu, YouTube, CBS, etc that you mentioned.
It’s running on any OS-X Intel platform now, even the AppleTV, but can run on any Ubuntu Linux PC on your TV.