Sling founders, execs leaving EchoStar

The founders and members of the executive team at Sling Media are leaving the company, which was acquired by EchoStar in September 2007 for $380 million in cash. Founders Blake and Jason Krikorian are leaving effective immediately, according to paidcontent.org, which reported the news first. Entertainment executives Jason Hirschhorn and Ben White, as well as sales executive Greg Wilkes, are also leaving. The executives had agreed to stay on-board for at least one year following the acquisition. (Techmeme)

The company has had momentum in recent months, including Best of Show awards at both CES and Macworld last week. It has launched online content service sling.com, a high-def device and SlingCatcher, a product that networks the TV sets in the house to allow DVR sharing and other features. The service also has mobile versions compatible with Blackberry, Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian. An iPhone version is in the works.

The entrepreneurial Krikorians say they plan to take some take some time off - "Chill out and bounce some ideas around," is how Blake Krikorian described it to Om Malik. Can't wait to see what those ideas turn out to be.