There have been speculation on this service ever since the company filed some patents earlier last year, and at CES next week, Sling Media will announce its official plans for SlingCatcher, a reverse Internet-to-TV service, extending from its earlier TV-to-Internet video enabling services. Jason Hirschhorn, who recently joined as president of the Sling Media’s entertainment division, told B&C that through SlingCatcher, users will be able to bring their TV picture to other TVs within the house and bring online video content to the TV. No specific content deals are being announced yet, though conceptually online movie rental and download services would work with this.
Reuters MediaFile has a more accurate description: The gadget goes on sale some time in the middle of the year at around $200. An interesting feature of the new box: will allow users to share clips of video they are watching on TV with other users...via Sling’s website. Sling CEO Blake Krikorian said that the company will avoid copyright infringement issues by partnering with both program owners and networks. “All these companies know that all their content is being chopped up already and being streamed and posted all over the place and they have no ability to monetize that. It’s happening without them. What we’re proposing is to show them a path to further monetize it.”
Also read this related NYT blog post: Who Will Bring the Internet to Your TV?