Sling preps TV show-snippet sharing service

How short's a clip?

By Tony Smith in Las Vegas, 10th January 2007

CES 2007 Slingbox maker Sling Media is to turn its internet TV box into a content sharing platform, the company said this week. It announced Clip+Sling, a feature that will allow Slingbox owners to share short segments of TV shows with anyone connected to the net. Watching Sling get this one past the broadcasters may well prove compulsive viewing.

The key word here is 'clip', which we guess is how Sling will pitch the system to the TV industry. Clip+Sling isn't about posting recorded programmes, it will undoubtedly say, it's about letter consumers share key telly moments.

Sling didn't say how long clips can be, or how it will prevent or at least discourage folk from sharing TV shows wholesale.

We should find out soon. The Clip+Sling software is currently in the testing phase, but Sling subsidiary Sling Media Entertainment Group - a business with the unfortunate abbreviation 'Smeg', which will prompt giggles among the mucky-minded and Red Dwarf fans - is planning to allow the public to download the pre-release code. Interested parties can apply to participate here. ®

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