The Sling box created by sling media is one of my favorite media devices. The sling box connects to your comcast/direct tv/etc... box and also connects to the internet. Then you can go anywhere in the world and watch your tv there. So my parents sitting in India can watch American TV. Infact recently the company has even launched blackberry and iphone applications so that you can watch your tv on the go anywhere in the world.
Sling media offers tremendous potential for people from different parts of the world to tap into American tv and culture. The reason I have labeled this blog entry Bridging Cultures is mainly for this reason. I also find it interesting that the sling box is only $300 and you pay no subscription fees. Another interesting thing that struck out to me was that should this be illegal? How can tv be rebroadcast-ed without affecting someones copyrights.
Anyway to connect this to our readings this device creates more uncertainty for the media producers in terms of who their audience is. We know that media producers and advertisers do not know their audience however they know that the audience is located in America. However through this product there is a leakage in the process. Media Producers can no longer control the broadcasting of their shows, the internet can "sling" their messages to be decoded and judged by people in other countries.
As the company grows, I feel the sling media will one day become an important tool in the future to bridge the gap between cultures.
I don't think the Sling box should be illegal. What is on TV is hard to be viewed illegally since most of it is broadcast for practically no cost to the viewer (cost of cable provider divided by hundreds of channels. Also, from what I can tell, the only person watching the TV is already subscribed to cable, they are just watching what they paid for on a different TV or a cell phone. It seems that TiVo would be just as bad, if not worse. You can watch the show even if you missed its proper airtime and you can fastforward the commercials, which is how television stations make all their revenue. If TiVo is legal, this should be too.
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