There are a growing number of ways to stream live TV over the internet for viewing on just about any device. But one of the first reliable methods was Sling Media’s Slingbox line of products.
Buy a Slingbox, connect it to your home TV setup, and you can stream live programming from your antenna, cable box, or DVR to a phone, tablet, laptop, or other device.
Now it looks like Sling is done making Slingbox hardware. Instead, Zatz Not Funny reports the company is pivoting to work on a video editing solution called SlingStudio.
Sling Media hasn’t confirmed the existence of SlingStudio yet, but leaked details suggest it’s a system that lets you set up a multi-camera system featuring HD video cameras and/or iPhones. Then you can use an iPad as a controller to choose which camera to record at any given time.
You could also broadcast the video feed live over the internet, which could allow video bloggers or others to create multi-camera studios without hiring professional camera operators.
As for the Slingbox line of devices, while Sling Media won’t be producing an new models for the foreseeable future, existing hardware should continue working indefinitely.
And if you want to watch live TV over the internet? The folks at Sling Media’s parent company EchoStar would probably prefer if you’d sign up for their subscription-based Sling TV service.
Update: As rwoodsmall reminds me, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Sling Media was acquired by Echostar, which used to be the parent company of Dish Network. But Dish is now an independent company… and it owns the Sling TV brand. So aside from the similar name, there’s little connection between Sling TV and Sling Media/Slingbox.