AT&T Gives Green Light to Sling TV over 3G

A year ago, Sling Media, a subsidiary of EchoStar, introduced a nifty application for the Apple iPhone that allowed users with a Slingbox at home to watch and control their home television signal from their handsets.

The only problem: AT&T said that such a bandwidth-intensive video service would overwhelm its network, so it limited the application to work only over an iPhones Wi-Fi connection. TV lovers and techies worldwide cried out in anguish.

But all that is about to change. AT&T announced Thursday morning that it will now allow the SlingPlayer iPhone app to stream live over its 3G network.

Since mid-December 2009, AT&T has been testing the app and has recently notified Sling Media as well as Apple that the optimized app can run on its 3G network, said the carrier in a press release.

Sling, in addition to various consumer groups, had complained to the Federal Communications Commission that AT&Ts policy was discriminatory, since other applications, such as Major League Baseballs, also stream live video over AT&Ts 3G network.

AT&T appears to have recognized that its position was indefensible and relented.