Dish Gets Slung

Las Vegas — Dish Network has finally done what everyone expected it would do when Charlie Ergen bought the Slingbox guys in September 2007: It’s rolled out a DVR that includes the Sling place-shifting features, the first such offering on the market.

The ViP 922, developed by EchoStar Technologies, will be available to customers in spring 2009. The "SlingLoaded" DVR, just like a Slingbox, lets you watch any programming or recording over the Internet, even on an iPhone (but you’d probably want to be on a Wi-Fi connection).

Other features: The ViP 922 has 1 TB of storage capacity for up to 1,000 hours of SD recording time, with support for external hard drives to add more storage capacity; and a touchpad remote control, with "cursor-like" navigation on a TV screen.

So, does the Slingredient give Dish a major or a minor advantage over cable? I’m willing to bet it will turn a few head Dish’s way. Cable will certainly be watching with interest to see how Dish, as the first major video distributor to offer place-shifting as part of its service, fares with this in the market.