Sling Media, Inc., a digital lifestyle consumer electronics products company and Symbian Limited, the market-leader in open operating systems for smartphones, today announced that the two companies are partnering to bring consumers a powerful mobile TV experience to Symbian smartphones.
Sling Media will deliver a version of its popular SlingPlayer Mobile software application, currently available only in the U.S. and Canada, for Symbian OS in select European and Asian countries during Q4 and will extend availability to the U.S. shortly thereafter. Unlike other offerings available on the market today, SlingPlayer Mobile delivers customers’ complete home TV experience on mobile handsets using standard network connections, including 3G cellular and WiFi.
The new SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian OS software package will enable users to transform their supported Symbian smartphones on S60 and UIQ into personal, on-the-go digital TVs providing anytime, anywhere access to their living room television experience. Any program that can be watched at home will be viewable through a Slingbox on supported Symbian smartphones using 3G or WiFi, including support for terrestrial TV, Freeview, cable, and satellite TV. In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile lets users control their home personal video recorder (PVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, and rewind live TV or even queue new recordings while away from home.
The combined mobile TV experience is driven by Sling Media’s breakthrough product, the Slingbox. The Slingbox redirects, or “placeshifts,” a single live TV stream from a standard or Freeview cable connection, cable box, satellite receiver or PVR to the viewer’s 3G handset or PC located anywhere in the home or anywhere in the world.