SlingLink Powerline Solutions: SlingBox Over Electrical Lines
SlingBox just launched the SlingLink TURBO 1 ($99.99) and SlingLink TURBO 4 ($149.99) for home users. These powerline routers allow you to connect to your SlingBox over your home's powerlines and not wirelessly or through a wireless or wired bridge.
Context & Ripple Effects
Sling Media has spent 2007 building out the ecosystem around its place-shifting box rather than just shipping hardware: January brought word of the SlingCatcher, a device meant to push streams back onto a living-room TV, and now June brings the SlingLink TURBO line ($99.99 for the single-port model, $149.99 for four ports).
The common problem both products attack is the same: a SlingBox lives wherever the video source does, and getting broadband to it over wireless bridges or long cable runs was the weak link in the setup. Powerline turns the home's electrical wiring into the network backbone instead.
First-order effects
- SlingBox owners whose TV source sits far from their router gain a plug-in alternative to wireless bridges, with Sling Media adding an accessory revenue stream on top of each $99.99–$149.99 sale.
- Retail placement of the TURBO line gives Sling a shelf presence alongside the core box, bundling the 'last meter' of the install with the device that needs it.
Second-order effects
- Wireless-bridge and home-networking vendors lose the default position in SlingBox installs, pushing them to compete on throughput and ease-of-setup for streaming video specifically.
- Lower installation friction should cut support costs and return rates for the SlingBox itself, improving the economics of every box sold through retail.
Third-order effects
- If powerline holds up under real streaming loads, home electrical wiring becomes accepted AV-distribution infrastructure — a structural shift from purpose-built cabling toward reusing existing wiring for whole-home video, which is exactly what a SlingCatcher-style product would depend on.
The trend: Place-shifting television is forcing consumer AV companies to solve in-home connectivity themselves, turning networking accessories into part of the video product.