Dish Network announced today the purchase of Sling Media, based in San Mateo, California. Sling Media is the maker of the Slingbox. The Slingbox is wildly popular TV streaming device that enables consumers to remotely watch their cable, satellite, or personal video recorder (DVR or TIVO) programming from a broadband internet connection.
Echostar, parent of Dish Network satellite, was an early investor in Sling Media.
The press release, announced a buyout price of Sling Media for $380 million dollars. One of the hilarious points in the press release is the comment from Sling media CEO and co-founder Blake Krikorian.
He starts of his section of the press release by saying “We are psyched to make this announcement.”Hey Blake, of course your psyched! You just made millions of dollars, and were probably given a boatload of Echostar stock options. We would all be psyched if we were in your shoes. Still, in the buttoned-up corporate world, cool to hear a CEO tell it like it is. Now if he can just get more CEO’s to admit they are “psyched” about things….
So what are Dish Network’s plans for the Slingbox? One of Slingbox’s most popular features was that is that it lacks a monthly fee. Once you buy the device, you can use it as much as you want without additional charges. Expect to see the monthly fee in the future if you are using it to sling DirecTV, cable programming, or anything else other than Dish Network programming. Dish Network will certainly be able to leverage its position by allowing its customers to use the device without additional charges, or at a much lower price than other providers.
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