Sling Media helps power DirecTV’s Supercast

Posted on Friday, September 21, 2007 by MegaZone

Sling Media powers DirecTV's Supercast

Check out the image, see the logo centered under the video image? No? Well, try the larger version of the image. See it now? Yeah, that’s the Sling Media logo. DirecTV is working with Sling Media in their NFL Supercast.

I’ve emailed some tech questions to Sling, but I’m going to presume SlingStream is being used for the streaming technology, and perhaps some of the SlingPlayer software is embedded in the Supercast client.

I heard back from Sling so I’ve updated this. Sling built the front end, the UI, and the entry way, and they’re continuing to work with DirecTV to enhance the Supercase experience.

Another update – Sling Media’s Dave Zatz posted some info over at SlingCommunity.com:

Supercast is an online destination provided to DirecTV’s SuperFan subscribers. Each Sunday, most NFL games will be streamed live. In addition to the live games, replaybale game highlights plus real-time scores and stats are also provided. We at Sling are responsible for hosting the service and for the user interface – which we intend to further enhance as the season progresses. Technologically speaking, Supercast is purely a web-based service, requiring Internet Explorer within Windows. (I can tell you from first-hand experience it works great in Parallels too.) Supercast does not require a Slingbox or utilize our SlingStream technology.

Personally I avoid Internet Explorer at all costs. And the only reason I don’t remove it from my Windows systems is that I do web development and need to test in IE for those people who still use it, and to check out things like this for the blog. I really hope that Sling does something to bring this to non-IE and non-Windows platforms. Be it Flash, Java, or even Silverlight – or some native viewer.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • http://www.zatznotfunny.com Dave Zatz

    Speaking as myself, not a Sling rep, it seems to me that Silverlight offers a ton of potential. It supports the same WMV that most online streaming uses, but is cross-brower and cross-platform. Since it just launched, it could be many months or more before we start to see some widespread applications – but this could be the future.

    Now, speaking as a Sling rep, Supercast is slick. Any football fan on the road is going to love it and football fans at home can bring up a different channel (like Red Zone)or watch select highlight clips and monitor scores while the TV is also on. (How I wish my apartment had a balcony so I could get DirecTV with Sunday Ticket.)

  • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ megazone

    Yeah, I’m known as not being a big MS fan in general, though I’m not fanatical about it – I’m typing this on my WinXP laptop. But I’ve looked at Silverlight and I admit I think it is pretty good. MS is doing the right thing by making it cross-browser and cross-platform, like Flash. They kind of have to, to compete with Flash, of course. Another nice thing about it is that it fires up the competition – Adobe is improving Flash in response, adding MPEG-4/H.264 support. I think it will be a good thing if the net moves to using standard video platforms like H.264 and VC-1 (the SMPTE standardized version of WMV9). Ideally it’d be nice to see Silverlight and Flash both support both codecs.

    I know SlingStream is based around WMV9/VC-1, so Silverlight seems like the natural platform for a ‘thin-client’ SlingPlayer. And if Sling Media did it now, or at least soon, it wouldn’t be surprising for Microsoft to help boost it as an example of what Silverlight can do. Companies that introduce a new platform are always looking for good case studies and examples early on to tout.

  • http://hdtivo.wordpress.com/ HDTiVo

    What is a Superfan subscriber?

  • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ megazone

    Superfan is a package offered to DirecTV subscribers.