TiVo wraps Aereo purchase
March 16, 2015
By Chris Forrester
DVR specialist TiVo has completed its purchase of the Aereo assets, such as they are, including Aereo’s trademarks and client lists.
The purchase price was about $1 million. The deal has been approved by a New York Federal bankruptcy court which was handling the company’s closure.
TiVo gets the trademarks and client list, while RPX Corp (described as a patent aggregation company) is paying $225,000 for Aereo’s patents, and Alliance Technology Solutions is paying $300,000 for Aereo’s equipment.
Tom Rogers, president and CEO of TiVo, said in a statement. “TiVo has found success in providing a more comprehensive offering and sophisticated user experience than any other player in the marketplace, and we look forward to expanding on that success.”
Aereo went Chapter 11 in November 2014 after failing to win a copyright infringement case. The bankruptcy has proved expensive for the company’s initial backers who stumped up a total of $97 million to kick-start Aereo’s business. Those backers included IAC boss Barry Diller.
Aereo launched its over-the-air streaming of live programming in New York in Marc 2012, and was sued by broadcasters for transmitting their signals without permission. Aereo subsequently fought a ‘fair use’ defence but the Supreme Court eventually ruled 6 to 3 that Copyright Law had been violated.