Apple’s decision to use an open ecosystem that should attract app developers to the new Apple TV has caught the attention of Sling TV, Dish Network’s OTT-TV service targeted to cord-cutters and cord-nevers.
“It could be an opportunity for us,” Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch told FierceCable at the IBC show in Amsterdam. “We’ll evaluate it.”
Lynch noted that the new approach could open a door to Sling TV as the Apple TV’s previous template-driven platform was better tailored for on-demand OTT services and not so much for services that deliver live linear streams and other components of the Sling TV service.
"It's nice to see them going to more of an app store model. I think that's pretty encouraging. Because it had been a pretty closed platform previously," Lynch said, but added that he’ll still have to “evaluate what their business terms are.”
The new Apple TV is just one of several new platforms Sling TV is considering, as Lynch told Decider.com that he expected to extend support to the Chromecast adapter later this year. Sling TV is currently offered on Web browsers, iOS and Android mobile devices, Google's Android TV-powered Nexus Player, Roku boxes, the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and Xbox One.
Look for an analyses of the new Apple TV in Monday’s issue of Multichannel News.
