Sling Media Contradicts AT&T CEO On SlingPlayer MobileSling Media Contradicts AT&T CEO On SlingPlayer Mobile

In direct conflict with comments made yesterday by AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega about Sling Media, a company representative said that Sling Media didn't do anything to change its SlingPlayer Mobile app in order for it to work on AT&T's network.Something fishy is going on here, and I don't like the way it smells.

Yesterday, AT&T published a press release saying that it has approved SlingPlayer Mobile to work over its 3G network. As part of the press release, the company quoted its CEO Ralph de la Vega as saying, "Sling Media was willing to work with us to revise the app to make it more bandwidth sensitive. They made important changes to more efficiently use 3G network bandwidth and conserve wireless spectrum so that we were able to support the app on our 3G mobile broadband network."

At first glance, that looks nothing more than an ordinary CEO quote added to a press release to give it some more weight. A company representative insisted to me that Sling had created a new version of the application to better work with AT&T's 3G network. I was told that Sling optimized the application to gain AT&T approval.

The problem, however, is that Sling Media says this simply isn't the case. According to a Sling Media representative quoted by Ars Technica, Sling Media made no modifications to the application. "We didn't change anything," Sling Media's John Santoro told Ars. "AT&T never discussed any specific requirements with us."

Ars explains that the code used to optimize SlingPlayer Mobile for use over AT&T's 3G network was always a part of the application. In particular, the code adapts the video stream quality depending in the network conditions. Santoro told Ars that AT&T did not ask Sling Media to make any specific changes to the application, and that it hasn't been changed at all since first submitted to AT&T.

I reported yesterday that the announcement smacked of an image-control move. By publicly announcing support for a well-known streaming video application, it could help to bolster AT&T's image in the eyes of the public.

When contacted for further comment after Ars' piece was published, AT&T told me, "There are technical things a developer can do to optimize an app for the wireless environment. Sling did that optimization. We tested it. And it is because of that, we can support Sling's mobile app on our 3G mobile broadband network." That statement still contradicts what Sling says.

If what Sling Media representative Santoro said is true, then the company more or less implied that AT&T provided misleading information. I have reached out to Sling Media to try to get to the bottom of the story, but the company's offices are not yet open. Santoro indicated to Ars, "Whatever the reason, we're just glad AT&T has approved it. We're just waiting for Apple's OK, now."