Aereo

Overview
Aereo has developed a business model that may challenge the functioning of retransmission in the marketplace. The company has begun providing local broadcast stations to subscribers of its service by capturing broadcast signals at its facilities with an antenna dedicated to each of its subscribers and then transmitting that signal via an Internet Protocol (IP) network to its subscribers’ residences. This has allowed Aereo to develop a unique video product that bypasses the retransmission consent fees that are paid by cable and DBS companies for providing broadcast signals to their subscribers.

However, broadcast networks view Aereo’s activities as violating copyright law, and the issue is currently in litigation. In April 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower court’s denial of WNET’s motion for a preliminary injunction, finding that Aereo was unlikely to be liable for copyright infringement. WNET v. Aereo, Inc., 712 F.3d 676 (2d Cir. 2013). On April 15, 2013, the plaintiffs filed a petition for reconsideration en banc,