Aereo is one of the most ambitious attempts to distribute television over the Internet, potentially disrupting the existing arrangement of broadcast, cable and satellite distribution. In early March, two sets of major broadcasters sued Aereo in the Southern District of New York, weeks before the company started to accept paying subscribers in New York City.
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Though now in just one market with a small number of subscribers, Aereo could portend big changes in how television is distributed and financed in the future. It is rooted in the notion that anyone can set up an antenna and freely have access to TV stations. The company relies on an array of thousands of tiny antennas, one for each customer. It retransmits the signals to customers over the Internet at a cost of $12 a month.
Because of the antenna array, Aereo pointedly does not pay fees to stations for the right to retransmit their signals. If courts continue to side with Aereo, the cable and satellite companies that currently do pay such fees may try to replicate the Aereo model.
