Want to Offer TV Everywhere? EchoStar Says, 'Just Sling It!'
Here’s the proposal from EchoStar to cable operators: Don’t bother to cut separate distribution deals to take TV programming to Internet and mobile platforms. Just sling it!
“We’ve been hearing a lot about TV Everywhere lately,” reads an EchoStar ad aimed at MSOs. “Well, welcome to the party.”
EchoStar bought Sling Media two years ago with the idea that “slinging” TV would become as big as time-shifting programming with a DVR. “Placeshifting” hasn’t yet caught on in the way DVRs have–but with all the TV Everywhere buzz in the industry EchoStar wants to point out to cable companies that its Slingbox-enabled set-tops can deliver on the concept without all those messy content rights discussions (see Rogers To Launch ‘TV Everywhere’ In November, Comcast: Programmers Control ‘TV Everywhere’ Ad Model and Most Cable Customers Give ‘TV Everywhere’ Thumbs Up: Survey.)
“Rebroadcasting content from Hulu is not a complete solution for a consumer,” said Mike Hawkey, vice president of sales and marketing at EchoStar, adding rhetorically, “Will your customer be satisfied with half the content?”
EchoStar and Sling Media will be in Denver this week, marking their debut at SCTE’s Cable-Tec Expo, as part of a marketing push behind the TV Everywhere message.
On display at the show will be the tru2way-based T2200S cable set-top box (code-named Morpheus) that’s “SlingLoaded” to let a cable subscriber access live TV, DVR recordings and VOD from PCs, Macs, mobile phones or an iPhone (well, sort of — the iPhone client is Wi-Fi-only).
Note that Dish Network is targeting the launch of its “SlingLoaded” ViP 922 before the end of 2009 — originally, the satellite operator was intending to launch it this spring. EchoStar is officially separate from the Dish side of the house, although Dish is its biggest customer for equipment and services.
EchoStar now has soft-launched Slingbox.com, where customers can connect to a Slingbox using just a Web browser — without requiring the SlingPlayer client to be downloaded and installed. (The SlingPlayer for Windows, for example, is 65MB.) Only one user at a time can do this, “as Slinging is a one-to-one application, much like TV Everywhere is proposing,” the company says.
Hawkey said this allows a cable operator to deliver a true “TV Everywhere” experience, with the full cable lineup totally intact, including live TV.
Cable customers can rebrand their online portals, though Hawkey said he wants to maintain a “powered by Sling” co-branding with customer destinations. EchoStar also is looking to license the Slingbox technology to set-top makers like Cisco or Motorola “and I’ll step out of the way,” he said.
But don’t operators want monetization/ad revenue opportunities? Cable companies can generate recurring revenue by selling a Slingbox service, as they do with DVRs, Hawkey replied.
With this TV Everywhere end-around, though, there’s clearly the issue of cable operators ruffling the feathers of programming providers. There’s also the EchoStar’s heritage with Dish, a fierce competitor to cable, and Hawkey’s reference to licensing the Sling technology to set-top makers may be intended to lessen that sting.
Will any MSOs bite on the Slingbox story? Hawkey claimed two operators are gearing up for launches soon, one before Christmas and one in early 2010, though he declined to identify them.
jason commented:
I agree with Mike's comment. I was wondering if maybe the content providers might cut out the cable providers by offering online video subscriptions directly to the consumer.
For instance, say Hulu was able to get content from all or most of the major content providers. I could see them offering a subscription model that would be substantially less than a cable sub. but it would need to cot as much since they would be cutting the cable companies out of the picture.
Legal? commented:
There are undoubtedly further legal actions to come on Sling - prior to the EchoStar acquisition of sling, there were all sorts of rumblings about the legality of placeshifting (sports blackouts were at the forefront of this). At the end of the day, doing this without the cooperation of the content providers is simply asking for protracted legal action and lots of $$ for the lawyers...none of which has ever deterred Charlie.
The Consumer commented:
Much like I have heard all week at CTAM, the world of cable (and the decisions being made) is contrary to the desires of the consumer. We WANT a simple solution like Sling-enabled content. We don't want multiple platforms (as a technophile I have this today), but rather one stage for the three screens. It's not rocket science, whether they license Sling from Echostar or do their own thing. What cable cannot do is lock themselves in to an existing business structure and go down a wrong path. Remember the other theme at CTAM is "the customer experience" and we can't ruin that...
Mike Berkley commented:
Todd, this is crazy talk. :-)
It would be a bad idea for MSO's to cut out the content providers. They are "upstream" from the cable providers and have more leverage in the media ecosystem.
In other words, in today's world Comcast needs NBC more than NBC needs Comcast.
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