Aereo "pauses" service following Supreme Court decision

Aereo pauses service following Supreme Court decision
TV streaming startup Aereo has "paused" their service indefinitely, following the Supreme Court decision in which it was ruled that the company violated copyrights of the major TV broadcasters CBS, NBC, Disney and Fox.

The service is shutdown as of 11:30AM today, but it could return at some point in the future.



"You will be able to access your cloud-based antenna and DVR only until 11:30 a.m. ET today," CEO Chet Kanojia wrote in his note to subcribers. "All of our users will be refunded their last paid month."

Here is the full letter:

A little over three years ago, our team embarked on a journey to improve the consumer television experience, using technology to create a smart, cloud-based television antenna consumers could use to access live over the air broadcast television.

On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower Court decision in favor of Aereo, dealing a massive setback to consumers.

As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower Court. We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps. You will be able to access your cloud-based antenna and DVR only until 11:30 a.m. ET today. All of our users will be refunded their last paid month. If you have questions about your account, please email support@aereo.com or tweet us @AereoSupport.

The spectrum that the broadcasters use to transmit over the air programming belongs to the American public and we believe you should have a right to access that live programming whether your antenna sits on the roof of your home, on top of your television or in the cloud.

On behalf of the entire team at Aereo, thank you for the outpouring of support. It has been staggering and we are so grateful for your emails, Tweets and Facebook posts. Keep your voices loud and sign up for updates at ProtectMyAntenna.org – our journey is far from done.

Yours truly,
Chet Kanojia


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Jun 2014 17:04
Tags
Supreme Court Aereo
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  • 4 comments
  • hearme0

    As I said before........had they passed on the whole "cloud based antenna and DVR" then they might still be around but this is what killed them IMO.

    They should have simply sold a DVR that was NOT cloud based and an HD OTA antenna and done and done.

    30.6.2014 15:08 #1

  • gnovak1

    This sucks because antennas dont work in my area so Aereo was my only way to get local channels without having cable.

    Right now I'm a 'man without a TV'.

    But I do still have netflix and hulu to keep me entertained until something else comes along.

    30.6.2014 17:24 #2

  • xnonsuchx

    If someone wants to offer this service to people free of charge and you are officially a non-profit organization, that might be OK, but you CANNOT charge money for it w/o agreement of the owners of the material.

    1.7.2014 21:58 #3

  • Jemborg

    I remember a similar fuss when cable TV was first rolled out in Oz. The FTA stations were protesting then. People with poor reception would get clear FTA as well... as you know. But the FTA stations claimed they were in effect getting extra content for free for their paid service. I don't know if it went to court or what was sorted out, if there was a deal or not, but FTA is still on cable here.

    Governments are pretty scared of pissing off the major broadcasters in their country... look at how the British govs sucked up to Murdock's rags, even with the scandal.

    Its a lot easier being righteous than right.


    DSE VZ300-
    Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD

    2.7.2014 03:37 #4

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