Dish to Launch EchoStar’s Slingbox 700U Late This Year

Dish Network late this year will launch EchoStar’s 700U Slingbox integrated with its ViP 922 satellite receiver/DVR and have it available as an add-on module for two other HD set-top boxes, an EchoStar spokesman said.

EchoStar’s 700U Slingbox, introduced at the last CES, is being combined late this year with Dish’s ViP 922 receiver/HD DVR ($599), and it will be sold separately as a module that attaches to the ViP 722 and ViP 622 receivers via a USB port, the spokesman said. “Sling 700U was just easier to combine with the ViP 922 software” than the older platforms used with the ViP 722 and ViP 622, the spokesman said. The prices for the upgrade to the ViP 922 and the standalone Sling modules haven’t been set, the EchoStar spokesman said.

The 700U adds place-shifting to current Internet-connected DVRs. It hooks up to a compatible DVR via USB and automatically decrypts incoming video, transcodes it and re-encrypts it to be sent over the Internet connection. The Slingboxhe ViP 922 has a 1 terabyte hard drive. The 700U will attach to ViP 722 and ViP 622 via USB connectors. Dish also is expected to field the Sling Receiver 300, designed to hook up wirelessly to the ViP 922 and transmit 1080i content to a TV. The Sling Receiver 300 is similar to the Sling Monitor 150 but adds an integrated display. SlingPlayer software applications have been launched for Apple iPhone (10 MB) and Android-based cellphones (4 MB) and will be available for iPad later this fall, said Anne Hohenberger, senior integrated marketing manager at Sling.

Although Dish is the only announced partner for Sling technology, EchoStar is seeking to build a market for the software in the cable and satellite industries in the U.S. and Europe. Sling technology is in EchoStar’s T2200 Tru2way combo set-top cable box being tested at “several” MSOs for possible use in the U.S. The T2200, a version of the ViP 922, began testing with MSOs late last year (CED Oct 19 p1). It’s a DOCSIS 3.0 compliant set-top and features SlingGuide, which allows Web-based control of TV viewing and the ability to program the DVR remotely. The ViP 922, originally scheduled to ship in March 2009 (CED Jan 9/09 p3), was first available to Dish subscribers late last year.

EchoStar also developed a Sling-based platform for European MSOs and satellite service provider Freesat, the EchoStar spokesman said. EchoStar also supplies HD DVRs to Liberty Media-owned cable operator Unity Media in Germany. The EchoStar spokesman declined to comment on whether Sling will be deployed with Unity.

The “Slingloaded” Freesat set-top is expected late this year as a combo satellite receiver/HD DVR, Freesat officials have said. Freesat doesn’t charge a monthly fee for a 140-digital channel line-up, but customers pay for the set-top, satellite dish and installation. Some Freesat set-tops also have been deployed the BBC’s iPlayer service, which allows users to catch up on a week’s worth of radio and TV shows. Among Freesat’s suppliers are Humax, Sony, LG Electronics and Panasonic. Freesat competes with Freeview, which uses digital terrestrial TV signals and has attracted the BBC and ITV as investors. Freeview’s addition of Sling also comes as U.K. cable operator Virgin Media prepares to launch TiVo-equipped STBs late this year. “Sling will be integrated into to cable boxes, but there are options for standalone products as well,” the EchoStar spokesman said.

Meanwhile, EchoStar worked to ensure that Dish Network’s ViP 722 and ViP 622 are compatible with Logitech’s Google TV-based Revue, which features Google’s Android operating system and Chrome browser. The two receivers will connect to the Revue via HDMI. Dish, which is taking pre-orders for the Revue, is expected to start offering it to subscribers in a few weeks. Through Dish, the Revue will be priced at $179 plus a $4 monthly fee, down from the $299 standard retail. Whether Google TV will eventually be built into Dish receivers hasn’t been decided, the EchoStar spokesman said. “There are always options if Dish requests it, but right now they haven’t asked for” Google TV to be integrated with a satellite receiver, he said.

EchoStar’s Dish Mexico joint venture with MDC Communications remains on schedule to switch to a Space Systems Loral-built QuetzSat-1 Ka-band satellite at 77 degrees west in 2011, the EchoStar spokesman said. Dish Mexico, which has more than 1 million subscribers, gets programming from EchoStar-8 and EchoStar-1, both at 77 degrees west. With the new satellite, Dish Mexico will get 24 of 32 Ka-band transponders under a service agreement with SES Latin America. EchoStar also is satisfied with its joint venture with Asia Satellite Telecommunications, which started delivering HD service June 1 in Taiwan. EchoStar is supplying the satellite receivers for the service, which uses the AsiaSat 4 satellite at 122 degrees east. “It’s getting off the ground for a new service with HD only,” the EchoStar spokesman said. “We're pleased with it and we hope to ramp it up."

EchoStar, the spokesman said, also is confident it will be able to retain business with ViaSat’s WildBlue despite the planned launch in first half 2011 of the Ka-band ViaSat-1 satellite at 115 degrees west. ViaSat-1 has capacity for 1.5-2 million subscribers (CED Sept 17 p1). WildBlue has about 425,000 subscribers. EchoStar, once an investor in WildBlue, supplies transponders for the broadband service from the AMC-16 satellite at 85 degrees west that it leases from SES Americom. “My guess is they are looking for as much capacity as they can get and we hope to continue that relationship long term and build a market there,” the EchoStar spokesman said.

EchoStar is leasing transponders aboard AMC-16 to 1080p programming supplier XStreamHD and Deluxe Digital Cinema. EchoStar tested with Deluxe digital delivery of films to 20 movie theaters for eight months before moving to expand the joint venture. The service will deliver 2D and 3D films to movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada and is considering providing live events, the EchoStar spokesman said. The movie’s will be uplinked to movie theaters from an EchoStar facility in Gilbert, Ariz., the spokesman said. EchoStar has signed up “dozens” of small telco and cable operators to its ViP TV service, which provides more than 300 channels. EchoStar introduced ViP last year to convert former SES Americom IP Prime customers. SES pulled the plug on IP Prime in 2009. In addition to supplying 42 HD channels, EchoStar handled converting MPEG-2 set-top boxes to MPEG-4.