Stung by Supreme Court, Aereo Suspends Service
New York Times-
Aereo said that the service would not be available after 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and that it would give users a refund for their last paid month.
Stung by Supreme Court, Aereo Suspends Service
What the Aereo Decision Means for TV
The Supreme Court ruled that Aereo violated
copyright law, granting television networks a much-desired win that will
preserve the status quo — at least for now.
Credit Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Aereo, the start-up firm that threatened to upend the television industry, has hit the pause button.
Three days after the Supreme Court
ruled that Aereo had violated copyright laws by capturing broadcast
signals on miniature antennas and transmitting them to subscribers for a
fee, the company suspended its service.
“We
have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the
court and map out our next steps,” Chet Kanojia, Aereo’s chief
executive, said in a letter to customers sent on Saturday morning under
the heading “Standing Together for Innovation, Progress and Technology.”
Aereo
said that the service would not be available after 11:30 a.m. on
Saturday and that it would give users a refund for their last paid
month. The company had fewer than 500,000 subscribers in about a dozen
metropolitan areas.
Customers
paid $8 to $12 a month to rent one of Aereo’s dime-size antennas that
captured over-the-air television signals. They then could stream and
record programs from major broadcasters using their mobile phones,
tablets, laptops and Internet-connected televisions.
Continue reading the main story
ABC v. Aereo
In a 6-to-3 decision
issued on Wednesday, the Supreme Court sided with broadcasters in a
case that was closely watched by the media and technology industries.
The ruling comes as the foundation of the media business undergoes vast
change reflecting a rush of new technologies and a rising number of
consumers who are abandoning traditional pay-television subscriptions.
Aereo
challenged the economics of the television business. Broadcasters
worried that had the start-up triumphed, it would have threatened the
billions of dollars they received from cable and satellite companies in
retransmission fees.
Broadcasters
argued that Aereo’s business model violated copyright laws and was a
high-tech way to steal their programs. Aereo countered that its service
was a digital-age solution for watching free over-the-air broadcasting.
Document: Supreme Court Decision in Aereo Case
The
case was sent back to a lower court. Analysts and legal experts said it
would be nearly impossible for Aereo to continue with its current
business model.
Before the decision, Aereo, which was founded in 2012, said that it had “no Plan B” if it lost in court.
But
on Saturday, Mr. Kanojia said Aereo’s journey was “far from done.” A
spokeswoman underscored that the company was not shutting down, merely
temporarily stopping its service.
“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,” Mr. Kanojia said
in his letter to Aereo users.
Mr.
Kanojia quoted Charles F. Kettering, an American engineer whose
inventions were essential to the creation of the modern automobile: “The
world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought
progress.”
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