Sling Media puts customer in control

Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian might think all of the content that wireless subscribers can get on their cellphones is pretty neat, but not if mobile operators and content providers expect consumers to pay multiple times for the same thing.
“Consumers are at a point in time now where it’s not just about choice, it’s about control,” Krikorian said.
“We as consumers are going to be spending more and more time in front of displays,” he said. “All this very simply is the stuff you love in other locations.”
Therein comes the naysayers who don’t embrace change, particularly change that they say disrupts their business lifeline. Mobile operators, content providers, cable operators and broadcasters all have accused Sling Media of potentially destroying their business. But Krikorian argues that his company’s products and services actually extend the value chain.
“On the mobile operator side, they see it and realize the consumer might love it so much that it must be a bad thing,” he said. Krikorian said most of the mobile operators approach their business as if they’re selling gym memberships with the hope that most would never come close to using everything they pay for.
“I think the most important thing for us was to lay low and sort of pick our battles from the beginning,” he said. “It’s all a pricing game, it’s an economic question. You know what; I think a lot of consumers would be willing to pay a certain amount for 10 hours a month for slinging.”
Krikorian thinks these issues eventually will work themselves out.
“If anything, we’re actually more of an enabler than a disruptor,” Krikorian said. “What we do is actually totally additive to the Nielsen ratings system.”
Take sports for example: even if a Slingbox user travels cross country, he’ll still be subject to the same blackouts he’d deal with at home. “My blackouts are preserved just as they were intended for me, so it doesn’t disrupt the model,” he said.
There is no learning curve to using Slingbox, he said. “This is entertainment; this is supposed to be convenient.”