Sling Media, a digital lifestyle consumer electronics products company, today announced it has developed a PAL version of its award-winning Slingbox designed specifically for countries utilizing the PAL video standard. The development of this new version of the Slingbox marks Sling Media's first expansion beyond the United States market, which has been the primary focus for the company thus far. Sling Media plans to deliver a PAL-compatible Slingbox within the first half of 2006. In that same period, Sling Media will also launch nationwide distribution in the Canadian market.

"We made a concerted effort to focus on the U.S. market first, building our retail channel and customer base here," said Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media. "However, we have received tremendous interest from potential Slingers around the world since our unveiling at CES last year. People's love for their living room television is truly universal. The Slingbox delivers your TV on your terms, and we are excited to deliver this freedom to any consumer in the world, regardless of the video standard their country utilizes."

Sling Media started a limited Beta program for the European market beginning in November and is working to thoroughly test the Slingbox to ensure compatibility with various satellite and cable set-top-boxes around the world. The company is also finalizing distribution plans, and will have pricing and availability information in the second quarter.

The Slingbox is a breakthrough consumer electronics product that enables consumers to watch their living room TV programming from wherever they are by turning virtually any Internet-connected Windows-based laptop or desktop and any Windows Mobile-based PDA or smartphone into a personal TV. The Slingbox redirects, or "placeshifts," a single live TV stream from a cable box, satellite receiver, or digital video recorder (DVR) to the viewer's PC -- located anywhere in the home or anywhere in the world, via the Internet.