As Aereo expands to more cities across the US, broadcasters and competitors continue to fight to shut the down the service they see as charging for retransmitted content Aereo does not own.
Today, a Los Angeles court will hear a case against Aereokiller (now FilmOn X), a service similar to Aereo, after the court granted Fox’s motion to close the streaming provider. This decision could have a major impact on the federal courts’ outlook on Aereo—California and New York appeals courts are currently split on the Aereo question.
CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox all are pursuing the case against Aereo, looking to courts in California, New York and Massachusetts in hopes of bringing the argument to the Supreme Court. Today’s decision may aid in their goal.
According to Aereo, the service is currently available in four cities with plans for 20 more.
Read more at Ad Age.
Brief Take: Allowing Aereo to re-broadcast TV stations’ signals without broadcasters’ consent undermines their ability to charge cable and satellite operators the per-subscriber retransmission-consent fees for which they have been fighting so hard, and which have rejuvenated the industry’s financial model. The best hope for alleviating that threat lies with the Supreme Court.
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