Aereo ‘pauses’ operations
June 30, 2014
By Colin Mann
In the wake of the US Supreme Court decision which found for the broadcasters in their copyright case against Aereo, the Internet TV streaming service says it is to pause its operations “temporarily” as it consults with the court and maps out its next steps.
In a letter to its customers published on the Aereo website, Chet Kanojia, founder and CEO, writes that a little over three years ago, the Aereo team embarked on a journey to improve the consumer television experience, using technology to create a smart, cloud-based television antenna consumers could use to access live over the air broadcast television.
“On Wednesday, June 25th, the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision in favour of Aereo, dealing a massive setback to consumers. As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower Court. We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps. All of our users will be refunded their last paid month. If you have questions about your account, please email support@aereo.com or tweet us @AereoSupport,” advises Kanojia.
“The spectrum that the broadcasters use to transmit over the air programming belongs to the American public and we believe you should have a right to access that live programming whether your antenna sits on the roof of your home, on top of your television or in the cloud,” he declares.
“On behalf of the entire team at Aereo, thank you for the outpouring of support. It has been staggering and we are so grateful for your emails, Tweets and Facebook posts. Keep your voices loud and sign up for updates at ProtectMyAntenna.org — our journey is far from done,” he concludes.