The consumer backlash that Sling Media got after it began to run advertising in select free apps has morphed into a lawsuit.

Two Slingbox customers – Mark Heskiaoff and Marc Langenohl – are seeking class action status in a lawsuit filed last week with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York arguing that they were subject to a “bait and switch,” as they began to receive ads without their consent starting in March, noting that they were also under the impression when they bought their Slingboxes that the place-shifting video platform would not be saddled with ads.  All of the paid SlingPlayer apps are advertising-free.

“Sling Media failed to disclose that the use of the product would be contingent upon and subject the purchaser to unrequested advertising from Defendant,” they alleged in the lawsuit, according to the Top Class Actions web site (hat tip: ZatzNotFunny). “Since approximately March 17, 2015, Sling Media suddenly began broadcasting such unrequested spam advertisements to users of its Slingboxes.”

They are seeking an injunction against Sling Media to produce and stream future original advertising through Slingbox without prior consent from purchasers. Per Top Class Actions, they’re also seeking restitution and disgorgement of all profits garnered from ads delivered via Sling Media as well as interest and attorneys’ fees.

An official with Sling Media and parent company EchoStar said it’s their policy not to comment on pending litigation.

Sling Media started to apply advertising to its free browser-based app last October, and on March 17, 2015, began doing the same with its more recently-launched (and also free) stand-alone app for PCs and Macs to users of the Slingbox M1, a model launched last summer.

Sling Media has since launched the M2, a $199 flagship model that uses free ad-supported PC and mobile apps, but does let users purchase apps separately if they don’t want ads). Those who do see ads are presented with a pre-roll ad when they launch the apps, and ads will also appear in the app viewing window. However, no ads are placed on top of the video itself, and display ads disappear completely when M2 customers use the apps in full-screen mode.

Following its introduction of ads in its Web and PC/Mac stand-alone apps for the M1, Sling Media, in its defense, reasoned that the decision was necessary in order to offset the costs of ongoing engineering and technology testing requirements.

Taking another stab at the consumer mainstream, Sling Media has launched the Slingbox M2, a video place-shifter that won’t require users to buy the requisite mobile apps, but will expand its use of advertising. 

The M2 (ZatzNotFunny caught wind of the product a few days ago) runs on the same hardware as the Slingbox M1, $149 product launched a year ago, but M2 buyers will no longer be on the hook to pay extra for the SlingPlayer app for iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, which typically runs $15 per app per device. There’s no recurring monthly fees, and M2 users also have the ability to stream content from their mobile device to Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices as well as to Chromecast adapters.

With the M2, a product outfitted with WiFi and 1080p capabilities that carries an MSRP of $199.99, Sling Media will instead try to make up for that by selling ads that run on standalone apps for mobile device and PCs, as well as Sling's browser-based clients.

Those users will see a pre-roll ad when they fire up those apps, and ads will also appear in the app viewing window (no ads will be placed on top of the video itself, however). Display ads  will disappear completely when M2 customers use the apps in full-screen mode, Mark Vena, Sling Media’s worldwide vice president of marketing, said.

“We think that’s a great tradeoff,” Vena said, noting that M2 Slingbox users will have the option to avoid ads on the mobile apps by purchasing the apps separately.

The ad model isn’t a new one for Sling Media. Last fall, the company started to stitch ads into its free Web browser client and a new standalone PC app for the M1 model. The decision was controversial in that it didn’t go over well with some Slingbox customers, but Sling Media defended the decision because it helps the company offset the costs of ongoing engineering and technology testing requirements.

Sling Media hasn’t revealed how many retail Slingboxes have been shipped (on the leased end of the spectrum, Dish Network embeds the technology in its new Hopper HD-DVRs, and Arris is Sling’s exclusive distributor of a place-shifting device optimized for cable operators and telcos). Vena estimates that the M1 currently makes up about 60% to 65% of the recent sales mix. Its high-end Slingbox 500 model runs $299.99. From this point on, the M2 is the company’s flagship Slingbox model.

Sling Media will look for the M2 to help it gain more ground in the consumer arena, even as the place-shifting platform faces off with multiscreen TV Everywhere offerings. Sling is trying to distance itself by promoting the fact that its products provide users with remote access to their full pay TV subscriptions, including DVR recordings, rather than to a subset of channels and features typically found in most TVE offerings. Last year, Sling Media introduced a consumer campaign that mocked the limitations of TVE.

Looking ahead, Sling Media plans to introduce a free app upgrade in October that will bring its Gallery view to smartphones that shares similarities with the company’s iPad app. The new app will also feature 20% quicker loading and connection times.

Sling Media also provided some revised usage data.

-Of its U.S. user base, 34% of Slingbox place-shifting is to Europe, followed by Asia (32.6%), and Mexico (9.6%).

-The longest Slingbox session recorded so far spanned 12,380 miles (from Asunción, Paraguay, to Taipei, Taiwan).

-About 75% of watched hours via the Slingbox occurs out of the home, and 80% of Slingbox viewing is of live TV, versus 20% from a DVR.