Aereo Inc.’s service that will allow
subscribers in New York City to watch broadcast television
programs on personal computers and smartphones violates
copyright laws, television networks said.
Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s ABC and other networks said in two
separate complaints filed today in federal court in Manhattan
that Aereo has no right to any of the programs that it offers
through its subscription-only Internet service scheduled to
start March 14.
“Although other distributors, including cable and
satellite operators and telephone companies, pay to retransmit
the same programming, Aereo’s business is based on circumventing
the carefully balanced distribution system mandated by
congress,” the networks said. “That is infringement.”
The networks seek a court order blocking Aereo’s service as
well as unspecified damages.
Aereo, based in Long Island City, New York, is backed in
part by Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI) The company lets its
subscribers access network television broadcasts and local
stations on web-enabled devices with a remote antenna and
digital video recorder. The company’s membership fee is $12 a
month.
“Aereo does not believe that the broadcasters’ position
has any merit and it very much looks forward to a full and fair
airing of the issues,” Mike Schroeder, a company spokesman,
said in an e-mailed statement. “Consumers are legally entitled
to access broadcast television via an antenna and they are
entitled to record television content for their personal use.”
The cases are American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo,
12-1540, and WNET v. Aereo, 12-1543, U.S. District Court,
Southern District of New York (Manhattan.)
To contact the reporter on this story:
Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at
[email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected].
