In its latest stab at cord-cutters, Dish Network has soft-launched a new device under the AirTV brand that lets users access and stream over-the-air TV channels in and out of the home.
The new AirTV product, a follow-on to the launch of the AirTV Player and AirTV Adapter early this year, is being offered online for $119.99, plus $8.99 for shipping, according to a live web page about the product. Dish is offering a 30-day money back guarantee and one-year warranty on parts for AirTV. The device is also integrated with Sling TV, Dish’s OTT TV service.
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A Dish official said the new OTA solution is currently available in limited release and soft-launched it to evaluate consumer interest. The company said it expects to share more detail in early 2018 following the soft-launch, making a formal announcement during next month’s CES 2018 likely.
In a different twist, the new AirTV apparently bakes in Sling Media’s place-shifting technology, as the new device, as ZatzNotFunny’s Dave Zatz points out, appears to be a repurposing of the original Slingbox M1 hardware.
That’s key because the new AirTV will allow users to access and stream local OTAs in and outside the home. Notably, viewing OTA signals outside the home is limited to one stream at a time, the AirTV web site points out.
Additionally, users need only one OTA antenna to stream local channels wirelessly to all TVs and devices that are on the home’s WiFi network.
Out of the chute, AirTV works with Sling TV, and has developed apps for iOS, tvOS, Android (mobile and TV), Roku devices, and Amazon Fire TV devices.
AirTV users will still need to obtain a separate OTA antenna and coaxial cable.
Per the specs, the device is outfitted with 802.11a 2x2 dual-band WiFi, 512 megabytes of memory, and two OTA tuners.
