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Old April 9 2013, 01:58 PM   #1
Aereo-like cable, but cheaper

This article is the first I have heard of Aereo. What they do is they capture the over-the-air signal broadcast by TV stations and provide shows through the internet to their subscribers for $10/month. They don't have a license from content providers. Networks say they're stealing content, but courts so far have sided with Aereo. Fox has now suggested they may stop broadcasting their signal if this continues.

So what do you think of this? There certainly seems to be copyright violation because they are making money off of media without having any license to broadcast it. However, they're only providing what people can get for free anyway.

I'm not sure who would be the primary users of this service. Cable/satellite subscribers might switch to it because it's cheaper, but they would lose out on most of they channels currently have. They might subscribe to it in addition to what they already have as a way to get local news/sports. OTA users might use it because it would allow them to essentially have a DVR. (Side note: the article says it's not possible to pause/DVR OTA TV. Wrong, I do it all the time. It just takes a little more creativity than getting a DVR from the cable company.) From each of these groups, the only ones the broadcasters would lose money from is those who are currently cable/satellite users who would switch but I can't see many people doing that because anyone paying that much for TV instead of using an antenna is probably watching the other channels.

As someone who uses an antenna, I don't think I like this. I like what I have, and this could only hurt me by making the networks respond in a way that would make me lose content or have to pay for it. We've got a good thing going here that has worked for decades, but this could ruin it all.
farmkid is offline   Reply With Quote