Sling Media announces mobile TV beta

Sling Media plans to publicly release its much-anticipated SlingPlayer Mobile software on April 26 for $30. The company announced that existing Slingbox owners can now download the software for free in a public beta program. The software solution allows consumers to watch their home TV on handheld devices powered by Windows Mobile without buying video service from operators. As I noted earlier this week, the concept is not one carriers are embracing yet as it threatens to erode their plans of offering their own content. The issues around rights management and how the carriers view these applications will be interesting to watch. On one hand they don't want to be a big dumb pipe; on the other they want to sell as many data service plans as they can.

To read more about Sling Media's mobile offering:
- check out this release from the company