AT&T OKs TV Place-Shifting Via 3G To iPhone

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 2/22/2010

DALLAS — AT&T has approved the use of iPhones to placeshift a home’s TV or DVR content if the phones use a revised, more bandwidth-efficient version of SlingMedia’s SlingPlayer Mobile TV app.

At press time, the revised app was not yet available for download through Apple’s iTunes store.

When the revised app becomes available, it will join Sling- Player apps that enable 3G streaming to multiple Windows Mobile phones and select Nokia Symbian-OS phones that operate on the AT&T network, SlingMedia’s Web site shows. Previously, the iPhone version of the app could be used only via the iPhone’s embedded Wi-Fi to let users remotely control their TV or DVR and stream live or recorded content for viewing on the iPhone display. The TV and DVR must be connected to a Slingbox component.

SlingMedia has also written versions of the app that run via Wi-Fi on 2.5G BlackBerrys, the Web site shows. SlingPlayer-equipped phones that place-shift TV via 3G over the AT&T Network include the Windows Mobilebased HTC Tilt, LG Incite, Samsung Epix, Pantech Duo, and HTC Fuze, SlingMedia’s Web site shows.

Select 3G Nokia phones are also listed by SlingMedia as compatible with the app.