Sling.com video portal, Web-based SlingPlayer due Nov. 24

In private beta for weeks now, Sling.com—complete with streaming TV shows, movies, and (best of all) Web-based access to your Slingbox—is slated to go live later this month.

PaidContent.org's Rafat Ali reveals that Nov. 24 is the magic day for Sling.com—or at least, that's the plan for now (rumor originally had it that the site would go live Nov. 10, but apparently the launch day's been pushed back).

So, what's the deal with Sling.com—isn't it just a Hulu clone? Well, yes and no.

Yes, in that like Hulu, Sling.com will offer hundreds of streaming TV episodes and scores of movies, all for free (and ad-supported, of course). PaidContent.org reports that Sling Media has stuck deals with the likes of Warner, MGM, Sony, and CBS; no Viacom for now (hence, no "Daily Show" or Colbert), but Sling may have "something to announce soon" in that regard.

But here's the "no" part, and it's a big one. Sling.com will offer a killer feature for Slingbox owners: a Web-based SlingPlayer, which will let you watch your Slingbox from any Web browser—well, any Windows-based browser, that is. (A Sling Media rep tells me that Mac support is "coming soon after the launch.")

And here's an even more interesting feature: SlingCatcher (and, perhaps, SlingPlayer Mobile users) will be able to stream Sling.com TV shows and movies to their TVs (and possibly portable devices, as well).

With SlingCatcher, users can already use the SlingProjector feature to stream any Web browser content from a PC to their TVs (including YouTube, Hulu, and Sling.com videos), but I'm told that Sling.com content will eventually be integrated directly into the SlingCatcher interface—no futzing with a PC required.

And how about streaming Sling.com TV shows/movies to your phone via SlingPlayer Mobile? Nothing to announce there yet, although Sling is "looking that direction," according to my Sling Media rep.

So, any Slingbox users ready to watch their TVs from any Web browser? Or how about the possibility of watching Sling.com content on your phone?

Related:
Echostar-Owned Sling Launching Online Video Portal; Hoping For Multi-Screen Convergence [PaidContent.org, via WaPo]