Sling just sent out an email to subscribers, presumably just those who watch on a Channel Master DVR+, which began, “The time has come for us to bid farewell to one of our devices. Soon, Sling TV will no longer be supported on Channel Master.”

That was all the useful information the note provided about this change, so while I await responses to my inquiries to Sling and Channel Master, it’s a good thing that I have enough questions and speculation to fill the gap.

When is soon? The end of the year is a natural, but it might also align with …

Does this have anything to do with Channel Master’s Stream+? It’s supposed to launch at CES 2018, which is pretty soon, and it shares some characteristics and a common source (Technicolor) with Sling’s AirTV Player. When Sling jumped on the DVR+ at CES 2016, it was hungry for subscribers and didn’t have its own device. Maybe now Sling sees Channel Master as a competitor? Which leads to …

Who initiated this change? Is Channel Master just shifting Sling viewers to the Sling Android TV app, which I would presume to be available on the Stream+? (Apparently not, see update below.) Did Sling want to make changes that wouldn’t fit on the DVR+? Or for some truly wild speculation, will Sling use CES 2018 to announce a local OTA DVR for AirTV?

I doubt that we’ll get all of those answers before next month, but I’ll update this as soon as I hear anything more.

Update: Channel Master emailed me to say that Sling initiated its removal from the DVR+. CM wrote, “Unfortunately, we do not have a reason behind their decision to pull the support.” I’m sorry to see it go.