Sling Media Inc. has made a business out of selling set-top boxes that let users watch TV content on their PCs. But in an interview with Contentinople, new president and CEO John Gilmore says the company is expanding that vision to reach users through digital video recorders, mobile devices, and basically any connected device with a screen.

Most Sling customers today use a $180 Slingbox receiver to access programming from their homes remotely on computers. Many of those customers are also subscribers of EchoStar Corp. (Nasdaq: SATS), which acquired Sling in 2007.

With the rollout of an application that will soon allow iPhone owners to access programming from their cable or satellite TV set-top, Sling Media Inc. is poised to score a big increase in adoption this year. But that's not all.

While the iPhone represents an immediate opportunity for Sling Media to expand its reach, Gilmore says the company is also talking to cable operators about distributing Sling technology to its subscribers.

At the same time, the company is looking to embed its technology in digital video recorders, mobile phones, and other IP-connected devices. The company also hopes to use its revamped Sling.com site to allow viewers to access Web content on a TV, according to Gilmore.

Below is our full interview with Gilmore, who took over for founder and former Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian earlier this year.

Contentinople: Where does most of your revenue come from?

John Gilmore: Eighty to 90 percent of our business today is Slingbox stand-alone sales in retail stores in the U.S.

Contentinople: Where do you expect most of your distribution to come from in the future?

John Gilmore: The first business lane is the selling of hardware. Secondly there's the OEM [Original Equipment Manufacturer] business -- putting our technology into every set-top box manufacturer, every television manufacturer. Ultimately any IP-connected device, we want to have Sling technology embedded in that.

We're going to be aggressively taking our technology and pushing it to all of the cable guys, the satellite guys, and any other place where people want to receive place-shifted content.

And the third business line is Sling.com, our online presence. We make money in that business by essentially an ad-share model, but also through e-commerce type opportunities, as well as up-selling customers who may not today be Sling customers.

Contentinople: What percentage of Slingbox owners access content from a laptop compared to those that access programming on a mobile phone?

John Gilmore: Today, the majority of our customers are watching stuff on the PC and Mac, and about 25 to 40 percent of the time they are watching it on a mobile phone. We don't see our customers exclusively watching stuff on an iPhone, or exclusively watching it on a PC or a Mac, or exclusively on a television. We see them watching it on all three of those screens, and that's very much our strategy.

Contentinople: Could you explain the business model for distributing Sling technology to mobile phones? Where does the money come from?

John Gilmore: The current model is essentially a [$29.99] single [software] sale to the end user customer. With the iPhone, there's a slightly different model. Everything is going through the [iTunes] App store. There will be a one-time fee [that hasn't yet been determined].

Contentinople: Do you expect the iPhone application to boost Slingbox sales?

John Gilmore: Without question. When you see a demo on another iPhone, you want to have it. Even though it may be a little more expensive, it's going to be one of the must have apps.

Contentinople: Why did you begin offering network TV series on Sling.com? The content is already available on Hulu and the network sites.

John Gilmore: We see Sling.com as the place customers go for all things video or all things television. Video on demand is another stream of content that you may or may not have on your television at home or can access through your Slingbox. It's just a place where everything resides.

Contentinople: Fox and NBC Universal recently asked Hulu to pull its content from Boxee, which distributed online content directly to the television. Would you eventually like to be able to distribute long-form TV series from Sling.com directly to the TV?

John Gilmore: Ultimately, that's our overall philosophy. We want customers to enjoy whatever content they want to watch, wherever they want to watch it. Obviously taking content from Sling.com and putting it on a television or on a mobile phone, there are rights issues that we have to work with.

Our philosophy from day one, whether it be with Slingbox or Sling.com, is we're going to work with those content partners to make sure that everybody participates in that process and has full approval.

Contentinople: Are you talking to cable operators about distributing Sling to their customers?

John Gilmore: We're certainly in conversations with the cable guys. I think it's too early to talk details, but we're out there talking to the cable industry, and without question Sling technology will be taken to the cable world at some point in the future.