Sling TV, a subsidiary of Charlie Ergen’s digital pay-TV operator Dish, may be about to launch ‘Air TV’, an over-the-air transmission system. Sling TV offers a pay-TV ‘lite’ subscription service with a limited number of channels but without a long-term obligation on the part of the user.

Variety is reporting that Sling TV has developed a TV tuner/receiver that will “grab” free over the air signals and stream them to devices that have Sling’s App installed. This could include a variation on the popular Slingbox hardware that permits users to ‘sling’ content from a TV set (or set-top box) to the next room, the next city, or the next Continent.

Sling TV already has certain agreements in place with the likes of Fox and – at least in some markets – the ABC network to carry their over-the-air broadcasts.

Channel Master, unrelated to any of Ergen’s companies, have also incorporated Sling TV’s technology into its hardware.

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