Recent developments in technology are blurring the lines that separate television and the internet. Sure, we’ve had YouTube and other popular video sites for a while now, and more recently we have seen major television networks offerings some of their most popular programming for viewers to watch online via the internet.

DISH Network is taking TV via internet to a new level with Sling technology, which allows DISH Network subscribers to watch programming in real time from their DVR systems anywhere they can access the internet. Using Sling technology gives users an experience that is the next best thing to watching from your favorite chair in the comfort of your own home without being there.

Although the inner workings of the internet remain a mystery for the majority of users, it’s well known that the internet offers criminals a gold mine of data that they use to fuel their criminal activities. News stories of company websites being hacked and customer data being stolen are not uncommon these days. What may be lesser known to internet users is that data can actually be siphoned from the internet in real time by someone who has the knowhow and access to tap into an access point.

With DISH Network relying on the internet to broadcast Sling content, the need to secure the data was pretty obvious. To that end, EchoStar, DISH Network’s sister company, has employed Widevine, a company that is described as a “content protection and video optimization specialist.”

Widevine’s DRM (digital rights management) technology will protect DISH Network’s programming content as it is streamed onto the internet for use by subscribers with Sling-equipped DVRs and receivers.

According to Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies: "Our innovative consumer devices embedded with Widevine’s widely adopted security bring peace of mind to content owners and service providers seeking to maintain their revenue model while providing consumers unparalleled flexibility to watch their content on the go.”

The Associated Press is reporting that DISH Network has unveiled plans that will allow subscribers to stream live satellite television to their mobile devices.

This means that they will be able to watch programming that is delivered to their mobile device via their home DVR systems and even change channels. It will also allow someone at home to watch a different channel at the same time if the DVR is equipped with two tuners.

Users will also be able to access and view programs that have already been recorded and stored on the DVR.

The new features are scheduled to be introduced this fall and will be available on Apple’s iPhone, Ipod Touch and iPad, as well as the BlackBerry and Google’s Android devices.

DISH Network customers wishing to take advantage of the new features will require special hardware at home, such as Sling Media’s SlingBox or a Sling-capable DVR such as the ViP922. Sling Media is owned by EchoStar Corp., the company that was once the parent company of DISH Network and is chaired by DISH Network CEO Charlie Ergen.

New technology and fierce competition among pay-TV providers will likely bring more new innovations from DISH in the future.

A new announcement from DISH Network reveals some cool new features that allow subscribers to watch TV just about everywhere they go. And when I say “watch TV",” I mean watch DISH Network TV.

TV Everywhere is what they are calling it, and it makes getting your TV entertainment easier and more accessible than ever before. Among the features are:

- Access to live and recorded programming on a laptop, mobile device, or anywhere in the home – without wires.

- The DISH Network WiFi Monitor. A new device that is capable of transmitting a high-definition video signal from a set-top box to any place in the home over a WiFi network.

- The DISH Remote Access App, which offers satellite TV customers total control of their television from just about anywhere. It is now available free for both the iPhone and iPod touch.

I don’t have access to all these features with the equipment I currently have, but I have used the internet to access my ViP622 DVR from other locations via the internet and it is a very nice feature.

I once used an iPhone to access my DVR while traveling home from a visit to my relatives, and was able to record a program that I had forgotten to set the timer for earlier in the day. Doing that while traveling down the road in a car (I was not driving) was pretty cool.

I also tested using the iPhone as a remote control, which does in fact work with my DVR, but since I am the type that rarely loses or misplaces things, it probably won’t be all that useful to me unless my remote control is broken. Although I don’t often lose things, I am actually pretty good at breaking stuff, so you never know!

I had wondered what kind of useful features DISH Network might be introducing when they announced a while back that we could not connect our DVRs to the internet. Due to the amount of work involved, I put it of for quite a while, but I finally got around to getting it connected via my home network a couple of months ago.

The big benefit I noticed right off the bat was that I had access to a lot more on demand content. Some of it was from channels I did not even subscribe to, so that was kind of cool. All you need to do is select one of the on-demand programs from the list and it will be downloaded via the internet for you to watch.

A while later I discovered another nice advantage to having my DVR connected to the internet. I could access and control my DVR from anywhere I could access the internet. I can sit in my office and browse the program guide on my PC and set up programs to be recorded while my wife is sitting in the living room watching TV.

Check out the story of how I managed to save the day by borrowing my son’s iPhone to access my DVR while riding in the car on the way back home one night after I realized I had forgotten to set the DVR to record something. Now that was cool.