A Dish Network technician works from one of the company trucks in Miami.
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Dish Network Corp. is pulling the plug on Slingbox, and the TV-beaming devices will become inoperable in 2022.
Sling Media’s Slingbox products have been discontinued as of Monday, Dish DISH, +1.20% announced. “Slingbox servers will be permanently taken offline 24 months after the discontinued announcement date (November 9, 2020), at which point ALL Slingbox devices and services will become inoperable.
“Until then, most Slingbox models will continue to work normally, but the number of supported devices for viewing will steadily decrease as versions of the SlingPlayer apps become outdated and/or lose compatibility.”
In a FAQ, Dish said the devices were being phased out “to make room for new innovative products so that we can continue to serve our customers in the best way possible.”
No new Slingbox products will be released, and while some versions of its SlingPlayer apps may be updated — such as for iOS or Android devices — they may also be removed from app stores without notice, Dish said.
The shutdown won’t affect Sling TV, Dish’s separate streaming service, which launched in 2015 and had 2.25 million subscribers as of August.
Dish acquired Sling Media from EchoStar in 2007 for $380 million. The Slingbox devices allowed users to beam pay-TV channels to their computers while away from home, but never caught on with more than a niche audience.
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