Advanced Television

Broadcasters appeal Aereo judgement

April 17, 2013

Fox and other broadcasters have filed with a New York appeals court to reconsider the California court decision to give a green light to Aereo, the controversial start-up that uses tiny antennas to retransmit their signals to connected devices for $8 a month.

In the new court filing the broadcasters claim  the decision “threatens to cause massive disruption to the television industry” and “will wreak commercial havoc,” and request a full panel of the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit the ruling.

Aereo is backed by a $58 million investment from media mogul Barry Diller and others, and lets customers watch and record TV without a subscription for $1 a day or $8 a month. It has survived two major court challenges thanks to its technology which assigns a mini-antenna to each subscriber; the service is now live in New York City and is slated to arrive in 22 additional markets.

In the new filing, the broadcasters rely heavily on the opinion of dissenting judge in the original judgement who described Aereo’s technology as a “sham” engineered to dodge copyright.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Policy, Regulation, Services