Aereo Prepares for Future Legal Action
posted Sunday Mar 4, 2012 by Scott Ertz
I think we all remember Zediva, the little company that streamed movies straight from DVD over the Internet to your computer for $2. We probably all remember their fate as well - shut down by a federal court.
Well, with the confidence inspired by such a success for Zediva, a new company, named Aereo, has decided to try something similar. In this case, instead of streaming movies straight from DVD, Aereo plans to stream television shows straight from an antenna. Yes, you read that properly, streaming full-broadcast television over the Internet. Thank goodness for digital television, right?
This week, all of the major broadcast companies have come together to file suit against the little startup. Hit the break to read about Aereo's plans for success.
One thing Aereo has that Zediva never did was funding. Aereo has recently raised $25 million in investment, inclusing a large amount of money from billionaire Barry Diller's IAC. Because of this, the company is prepared to fight this hard. In a statement, Aereo said,
Today, two groups of broadcasters filed two separate federal lawsuits against Aereo in the Southern District of New York claiming that Aereo will infringe their copyrights by making available technology which enables consumers to access broadcast television via a remote antenna and DVR. Aereo does not believe that the broadcasters' position has any merit and it very much looks forward to a full and fair airing of the issues.
Consumers are legally entitled to access broadcast television via an antenna and they are entitled to record television content for their personal use. Innovations in technology over time, from digital signals to Digital Video Recorders ("DVRs"), have made access to television easier and better for consumers. Aereo provides technology that enables consumers to use their cloud DVR and their remote antenna to record and watch the broadcast television signal to which they are entitled anywhere they are, whether on a phone, a tablet, a television or a laptop. Aereo looks forward to its upcoming product launch as well as a prompt resolution of these cases.
Large companies do not like having their business models challenged, so the broadcasters are going to fight this one hard, but Aereo doesn't seem like they will be backing down. The law currently stands on the broadcasters' side and there is precedence against them, but I think we'll be seeing this name around for a while.
