Aereo waves the white flag, files for bankruptcy

Shawn Knight

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aereo internet tv bankruptcy live tv chapter 11 chet kanojia internet tv broadcasters streaming tv over-the-internet

Aereo has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The disruptive media company put up a valiant fight but in the end, the broadcasters won the war.

In a blog post on the matter, founder and CEO Chet Kanojia noted that while they had several victories in the federal district courts in New York and Boston and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the reversal of the Second Circuit decision in June by the U.S. Supreme Court has proven difficult to overcome.

That decision effectively changed the laws that had governed Aereo’s technology. Kanojia added that his team explored every path available looking forward but the uncertainty in the new laws was simply insurmountable.

aereo internet tv bankruptcy live tv chapter 11 chet kanojia internet tv broadcasters streaming tv over-the-internet

All things considered, Kanojia said he believes they played a significant part in pushing the conversation forward and helped force positive change in the industry for consumers.

Aereo started its journey to build a better television experience a little over three years ago. By using a loophole in the law, Aereo employed a vast array of tiny antennas – on per customer – that allowed them to stream broadcast television over the Internet.

As you can imagine, this didn’t go over too smoothly with broadcasters and while Aereo was able to navigate the legal mine field for quite some time, they were simply putting off the inevitable.

The Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings will allow the company to maximize the value of their business assets without further legal proceedings. But for now, it’s game over for Aereo.

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You can now bet that those companies that were going to start streaming, will no longer do so.
 
This is sad news. They had an interesting idea. And this will be a setback for watching TV in ways which are friendly to the consumer.
 
Nice to see the big guys shittin' on the little guys again.

The only surprise about Aereo was that they ever even got off the ground. Their business model was so obviously illegal I can't believe anyone would have invested any money into trying to pull it off.
 
This is sad news. They had an interesting idea. And this will be a setback for watching TV in ways which are friendly to the consumer.
You do realize that slapping a tuner into your home computer, and hanging a pair of rabbit ears on it, could easily be construed to be, "friendly to the consumer", don't you?
Maybe they can hold up those little antennas for a umbrella.
Or maybe they could open a nightclub without bothering to apply for a liquor license, and put them into fancy mixed drinks.
 
Right now there is HDHomeRun networked dual tuners I use 2 of these so I can record over the network up to 4 different HD OTA channels at the same time. I had started this venture back in Sept 2012. So 2 years later OTA has increased channel line-up from 60 to 75 (up 15 channels) Grit Network is the newest one.

So this company to stream OTA over into the internet would be sound but really don't need to that if your in the right OTA markets. If your just too far from the OTA market then it might be neat to use. I live way out but the OTA markets are North and South of me here. I still need to use dual 80 miles HDTV ANT to pick both markets up. Thus giving me those 75 channel.
 
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