Lawsuits expected over TV Slingbox
Jul. 6, 2005 at 1:20PM
Lawsuits over TV piracy are widely expected following explosive demand
for place-shifting devices such as a Slingbox, the Hollywood Reporter
says. The $250 device is a brick-sized box that enables viewers to
route the live television signal coming into their homes to a portable
device anywhere on the globe via a broadband Internet connection.
The legalities come in because two Slingbox owners could send each
other programming unavailable in their respective areas. An East
Coast viewer could stream “Survivor” to the west coast three hours
early, while the West Coast viewer could provide access to a premium
channel the East Coast viewer doesn’t pay to receive.
Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian in San Mateo, Calif., prefers to be
optimistic.
“The Internet has changed the meaning of what proximity and geography
is,” Krikorian said. “If it’s disrupting existing business relations,
we need to figure out how the next business models evolve that make it
a win-win for the consumer and the industry.”
United Press International