Well, couldn’t there be an issue with people sharing accounts somehow? I could just split the cost with my neighbor and then set up some schedule where I watch it during a certain amount of time and then he can watch it at some other time. Unless the slingbox gets installed at the user’s place. Then it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m just not entirely sure how a slingbox operates, though.

Seems if the politicians of today have their way – everything will soon be illegal.

At that point – will it matter?

This is alot like the problems that the RIAA had with the original MP3.com service… The one that allowed you to listen to your own records and CD’s over the internet.
The issue is control. This new company is in a contractual relationship with the consumer, not the provider, and they fear the loss of control over the content.
They fear that very soon the access controls that are in place will be broken, and all of their content will be free for the taking on the internet. And they’re probably right.
I’m normally the last person to side with the big media companys, but this is a case where they would likely win. Actually, I’m surprised that Slingbox is still alive, considering the potential for the same things to happen.

DirectTV is upset because this can put DTV in violation with their contracts with the broadcast networks.

I’m not sure why Slingbox should be upset.

I can get a subscription to one of the satellite radio services for listening to their programing via my PC. The difference between DirectTV and the satellite radio services is programing.

The radio services create and originate their own programing content. DishTV is only a distribution service. It doesn’t create and orginate programing. I don’t know how they compensate HBO, Showtime, etc., but there is probably something in the agreement that restricts the distribution of the programing to the satellite downlink.

The company helping DishTV subscribers to view the programing is actually re-distributing from a remote site. The tgerms of the agreement with Dish probably allow a customer to distribute the programing throughout their residence, but not to another location, such as a next door neighbor.

It is true that Dish and Slingbox are not losing any money, but the comapnies that create the programing may take issue with the re-distribution and sue DishTV.

Another wonderful example of “I dont understand it so it must be bad…”

Someone has to be using Slingbox arrangements under the radar to watch football that’s blacked-out locally. Slingbox will probably be sued out of business ala ReplayTV if they become successful enough. Of course the technology is simple enough that any mid-powered PC with a tv capture card could do the same thing and an open-source option is simply a matter of time (if not already available, haven’t looked).

http://www.techwareit.com/hosting/slingbox/

Can you give me the Slingbox Hosting article or a link to the article?

Below is a great story in Newsweek on Slingbox Sharing and Hosting

http://www.newsweek.com/id/175602

Newsweek

The Slingbox was built to stream your favorite TV shows to your laptop via the Internet. But users are finding other new and controversial uses.

Remember when you had to be home at 8 p.m. to watch a favorite TV show? Devices like TiVo and your cable company’s digital video recorder changed all that. Then along came the Slingbox, a device that lets you watch your home DVR or cable box from anywhere in the world using your laptop and an Internet connection. More than 500,000 Slingboxes have been sold since they were introduced in 2005. But like many disruptive technologies, the device is being used in creative ways that its manufacturer, Sling Media, never imagined.

Originally designed for personal viewing, the Slingbox has been transformed into a global online broadcast platform by individual users and a handful of crafty companies. With a practice known as Slingbox hosting, owners of the boxes are charging others in different cities and countries access to their Slingbox video feeds. For a monthly charge of about $100, subscribers get the original owner’s Slingbox ID, download the free Sling software, and voilà—a New Yorker could be watching the local news in Los Angeles or London. Sharing is especially popular among sports fans who use sites like slingboxsharing.com that provide a forum for owners to trade their IDs with users in other states. That allows a Knicks fan in Iowa, for example, to watch live Knicks games that may not be broadcast outside of New York.

Then there are companies like techwareit.com and a2btv.com that both allow homesick Americans living overseas to watch U.S. television over the Internet. For as low as $99, plus the cost of a cable or satellite TV subscription, they’ll wire up a Slingbox so that international customers can watch American must-see-TV from anywhere in the world.

“Slingbox gives people the ability to essentially become a rebroadcaster of content, and sort of become their own cable company,” says Michael Gartenberg, a tech analyst at Jupitermedia. “We are living in a global society and people want to watch the Yankees, even if they’re not living in the New York area or the United States.”

While they’re popular with users, the Slingbox’s manufacturer, Sling Media, is not pleased. The company says these practices violate its license agreement, which states that users may not lease, lend, rent or otherwise distribute the software to any third party. The company has banned all Slingbox sharing and hosting posts on its official message boards, warning customers that the use is illegal. “Hosting Slingboxes and sharing finder ID’s is prohibited by our End User License Agreement,” says Sling Media spokesman Brian Jaquet. “And we don’t condone any violation of copyright law.” But will it take legal action to stop unauthorized uses? “No comment,” Jaquet says.

Not surprisingly, cable and satellite TV providers are also up in arms, underscoring that unauthorized rebroadcasts of their content are illegal. “Our acceptable-use policy, which every customer agrees to, is pretty clear about what you can and can’t do with your cable subscription,” says Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley. “And the majority of [these uses] fall outside of the acceptable-use policy.”

The major professional sports leagues aren’t big fans either, largely because it enables viewers to skirt the leagues’ multi-million-dollar exclusive broadcast partnerships that restrict regional broadcasts and provide local blackouts for programming when games aren’t sold out. So far, however, none of the leagues seem willing to prosecute unauthorized broadcasts or alienate some of their most avid fans. “Our fans are never wrong,” says MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman. “We can never suggest that a fan shouldn’t do everything he or she is doing to watch a baseball game… the best way to combat these gray activities is to have a better product: higher quality, more streams, high definition, things that [Slingbox] can’t do.” The NFL declined NEWSWEEK’s requests for comment.

For their part, Slingbox owners see nothing wrong with using their devices to their fullest advantage. They believe that once they purchase the device, they should be able to use it in the privacy of their homes in any way they see fit. Online sharing and hosting, say owners, just underscores the desire to watch news, entertainment and sports from anywhere at any time. “If there were legal and simple ways for people in remote locations to watch whatever content they wanted, those people would pay for it,” Gartenberg says. “The fact that there is demand for these types of services indicates that there is a market opportunity for legitimate [offerings].”

Some content providers have already realized this. Last year, EchoStar, which owns Dish Network, bought Slingbox to give it a competitive edge over rival cable and satellite TV providers. The NHL has also partnered with Slingbox to distribute league content through its Clip+Sling service, which allows the creation of short e-mailable video clips.

One thing, though, is clear: Slingbox, which also enables TV viewing on cell phones and other handheld devices, is leading the charge in the merging of TV and the Internet. And according to Gartenberg, the genie may already be out of the bottle. “They can’t turn off the technology,” he says. “People are carrying screens with them all the time in the guise of phones and laptops, so they’re going to want their content to flow from location to location. What you have to figure out is what’s the fair way for people to use this technology, get the content that they want and pay a fair price for it.”
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/175602
© 2008