If you’re like us, you probably haven’t thought about the Slingbox in a good long while; the idea of beaming your own TV over the internet has largely been replaced by streaming TV services, even if watch-anywhere DVRs like the Fire TV Recast do still exist.
But if you are still relying on a Slingbox of your very own, you’re officially on notice: Dish subsidiary Sling Media is discontinuing all Slingbox products and will permanently shut down the Slingbox servers on or around November 9th, 2022 — “at which point ALL Slingbox devices and services will become inoperable,” says Sling.
Why now? Please enjoy this illuminating explanation:
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Right then!
The company’s also nixing a variety of its SlingPlayer apps, including its app for Windows Phone, which… it’s been a while since the Slingbox was fully relevant, OK? But it sounds like there’ll still be a version available for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, and even the web for a little while yet.
Since 2015, Sling has been a little more focused on its own over-the-top streaming platform: Sling TV. So far, it’s not a bad deal.
