Thursday, July 10, 2014

drag2share: Supreme Court said Aereo is a cable company, so now it wants to be treated like one

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/09/aereo-survival-strategy/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

In this Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, photo, Chet Kanojia, founder and CEO of Aereo, Inc., stands next to a server array of antennas as he holds an antenna between his fingers, in New York.  Aereo is one of several startups created to deliver traditional media over the Internet without licensing agreements. Past efforts have typically been rejected by courts as copyright violations. In Aereo’s case, the judge accepted the company’s legal reasoning, but with reluctance. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Despite Aereo's best efforts, the Supreme Court decided that its service was too much like cable TV and therefore its unlicensed streaming of TV broadcasts were illegal. Now, after putting its service on pause, Aereo has filed a letter with the US District Court saying that since the Court said it's like a cable system, it is entitled to the same statutory license that cable companies pay broadcasters. CEO Chet Kanojia sent a message to users and supporters explaining "The Path Forward" with a link to the letter, but hasn't laid out a timeline for the service's return. That's one of the reason's broadcasters are still fighting the new move, saying (in the same letter) that it's "astonishing for Aereo to contend the Supreme Court's decision automatically transformed Aereo into a 'cable system' under Section 111 given its prior statements to this Court and the Supreme Court."

[Image credit: AP]