Broadcasters Worry That Aereo Could Change TV Industry But Would That Really Be Such a Terrible Thing? Fox network founder Barry Diller recently unveiled a new service dubbed Aereo, which for $12 a month hopes to take over the air broadcasts from major networks and stream them to phones, tablets, and connected televisions. The service, launched first as a trial in New York City, is intended to supplement viewing options for users who have cut the cord in favor of Netflix, Hulu, (and/or piracy), replacing the basic cable connection. As you might expect, the idea terrifies broadcasters, who very quickly sued the company. NBC Universal exec Matt Bond is busy warning other broadcasters that if Aereo wins their lawsuit, it could shake things up dramatically for the pay TV market: "It makes little economic sense for cable systems and satellite broadcasters to continue to pay for NBCU content on a per-subscriber basis when, with a relatively modest investment, they can simply modify their operations to mirror Aereo's 'individual antenna' scheme and retransmit, for free, over-the-air local broadcast programming," Bond says in a declaration. "I know for a fact that cable companies have already considered such a model." Broadcasters are trying to persuade a judge to order a preliminary injunction against Aereo's service. Of course for those tired of paying bi-annual rate hikes for hundreds of unwatched channels, a kick to the TV industry's digital posterior might be just what the doctor ordered.
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 | | Aereo Go check your own Monday morning links about the broadcast industry.
Except for PBS, I wouldn't mind. | |
|  |  elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO | Re: Aereo they already have this in Japan and its free.... | |
| | | | | | Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| said by elios:they already have this in Japan and its free....
Oh? Please tell me where this Free live streamed Japanese TV can be viewed.
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300/150 mbit Bonded Verizon FiOS connection FTW! | |
| | | | dj_eric
join:2004-11-19
Kennett Square, PA | Re: Aereo There's actually 2 that I know of. 1seg is completely on the Cellular network. NotTV is the new one that just came out, but I think it's strictly limited to NTT customers. »www.nottv.jp/
There's also NicoNico, but very limited and like YouTube. | |
| | | | | Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: Aereo said by dj_eric:There's actually 2 that I know of. 1seg is completely on the Cellular network. NotTV is the new one that just came out, but I think it's strictly limited to NTT customers. »www.nottv.jp/
Hmm nottv is looking pretty mobile oriented to me as well =(. At work we are a NTT customer... Have a 10 gigabit line with them, does that count? =P
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300/150 mbit Bonded Verizon FiOS connection FTW! | |
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ErikRP
join:2004-11-06
Winnipeg, MB Reviews:
 ·Shaw
| If Only! "Of course for those tired of paying bi-annual rate hikes for hundreds of unwatched channels..."
If only it was bi-annual (every 2 years). In our market it is approaching semi-annual (twice a year) rate increases. And what's worse, they are continually playing with the packages, so it is almost impossible to make year over year comparisons, let alone try to figure out the best deal for your viewing habits. | |
| | | | Re: If Only! Those twice a year (or more) rate hikes enhance "your experience" and you get "more value" out of your purchase. | |
| |  n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY | Of course if the cable providers win, it is not like prices will go down. There will still be the annual rate hikes with the increases going into the pockets of the carriers instead of the broadcasters in the form of retransmission fees. The customers will never win regardless.
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I support the right to keep and arm bears. | |
| | | | Biannual is twice a year; biennial is every two years. | |
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| | It's OTA + Netflix For Us And our time spent watching commercial OTA television is steadily decreasing, as the number of interesting programs shrinks (do we really need more singing talent shows?) and the obnoxiousness of commercials, and the time they consume, increases. (Commercials, these days, seem to be mostly the networks hawking their own shows, drugs we don't want, lawyers we don't need, and cars we can't afford.) Three or four years ago we were watching something every night, and some nights two hours or more. Last season there were few "two-hour" nights (I can think of only one, off-hand), and some nights where we watched nothing at all following the "news."
We never watch movies on commercial TV. Not ever. Neither one of us cares about sports. In fact: Preempting the few commercial TV shows we do like with sports coverage reduces our commercial OTA TV time.
An increasing amount of our OTA TV watching is PBS. Much better programming and much less annoying advertising. We value PBS so highly we send them a small contribution each year.
It seems, these days, that, often as not, the TV is on as much for the noise factor as anything else.
Cable or satellite is out of the question. For a number of years we occasionally discussed it, but inevitably came to the conclusion we could not justify the cost. Now we don't even discuss it anymore. | |
| | | |  amarryatVerizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA | "An increasing amount of our OTA TV watching is PBS. Much better programming and much less annoying advertising."
That is completely subjective. | |
| | | | said by jseymour:And our time spent watching commercial OTA television is steadily decreasing, as the number of interesting programs shrinks (do we really need more singing talent shows?) and the obnoxiousness of commercials, and the time they consume, increases. (Commercials, these days, seem to be mostly the networks hawking their own shows, drugs we don't want, lawyers we don't need, and cars we can't afford.) Three or four years ago we were watching something every night, and some nights two hours or more. Last season there were few "two-hour" nights (I can think of only one, off-hand), and some nights where we watched nothing at all following the "news."
We never watch movies on commercial TV. Not ever. Neither one of us cares about sports. In fact: Preempting the few commercial TV shows we do like with sports coverage reduces our commercial OTA TV time.
An increasing amount of our OTA TV watching is PBS. Much better programming and much less annoying advertising. We value PBS so highly we send them a small contribution each year.
It seems, these days, that, often as not, the TV is on as much for the noise factor as anything else.
Cable or satellite is out of the question. For a number of years we occasionally discussed it, but inevitably came to the conclusion we could not justify the cost. Now we don't even discuss it anymore.
went to netflix, and amazon, due to suddenlinks endless commercials!!!, within the last few years commercials just seem to fill the wires!! its to much | |
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| |  cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:7 | Difference though for cable and satellite companies Presuming Aereo's loophole is deemed legal...
The difference between what Aereo and cable (or satellite) companies is that Aereo has a antenna for each customer, which ultimately sends a unique stream to each customer. Cable companies could send a unique stream to each customer, but that's a lot of extra overhead, particularly for major network channels. Will cable's infrastructure handle millions of customers watching the Superbowl for instance?
Satellite companies are at more of a disadvantage unless they rely on internet streaming to get the channel to the user. They don't have the bandwidth for all their users to have separate streams from dedicated antennas. And if they combine streams into a common one, they no longer are using the loophole. | |
| | | doubt anything would change If aereo wins, it basically allows other companies to get a free ride off the broadcast networks. They basically can get away with the commercial use of someone else's business without paying a penny.
Then the broadcast networks will threaten to move to cable and we'll see a government bailout since their viewership has been in a long term decline. | |
| | | | Re: doubt anything would change If the stream contains commercials, what's the problem?
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MNSi Internet - »www.mnsi.net | |
| | | | said by sparc:If aereo wins, it basically allows other companies to get a free ride off the broadcast networks. They basically can get away with the commercial use of someone else's business without paying a penny.
Then the broadcast networks will threaten to move to cable and we'll see a government bailout since their viewership has been in a long term decline.
How is this a problem if the commercials follow?
Also, if the broadcast networks quit 'broadcasting', then that would free up all that juicy spectrum for more wireless options. | |
| | |  dvd536as Mr. Pink as they comePremium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4 | Re: doubt anything would change said by viperlmw:said by sparc:If aereo wins, it basically allows other companies to get a free ride off the broadcast networks. They basically can get away with the commercial use of someone else's business without paying a penny.
Then the broadcast networks will threaten to move to cable and we'll see a government bailout since their viewership has been in a long term decline.
How is this a problem if the commercials follow? Also, if the broadcast networks quit 'broadcasting', then that would free up all that juicy spectrum for more wireless options. YAY!!1 more spectrum for T to squat on! | |
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| | | said by sparc:If aereo wins, it basically allows other companies to get a free ride off the broadcast networks. They basically can get away with the commercial use of someone else's business without paying a penny. Does RCA get a free ride off of the networks since they make antennas? How is this different? | |
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| | Reviews:
·Time Warner Cable
·Verizon FiOS
 ·voip.ms
| It's not just streaming They also act as a cloud DVR and you can save your shows for later viewing. So this allows one to stream timeshifted shows from the cloud, and that means anywhere.
Plainly put this is competition to the lack of innovation from the cablecos.
The model they use DVR in every home should almost be illegal (not really but it is 80's technology) from all the energy it wastes and how inefficient it is. I mean they could easily record every show from broadcast and put it on one nice storage array (or regionally) and then the user streams it from anywhere, anytime.
Then they could pop up a small commercial while you are fast forwarding the commercials or something else to recover revenue and you could view it from your ipad at work.
At that point why do you need expensive cablecard BS receivers? Obviously if they are the layer-2 provider you can come up with a number of easy encoding streams with a $5 adapter.
In any case this is innovation, and the cablecos are using 1980 technology--barely better than a VCR.... The only innovation is adding a hard drive--oh boy and encryption that requires 10W boxes to decode (that is de-innovation). | |
| | |  voipguy
join:2006-05-31
Forest Hills, NY | Re: It's not just streaming Don't blame the cablecos for this. Cablevision tried Cloud DVR and ultimately won, but not without the restriction that a UNIQUE COPY of everything recorded by EACH CUSTOMER must be stored. Talk about wasting energy! If this stupid requirement were rescinded, I bet they could store at least a week's worth of all TV broadcast/cablecast for on-demand viewing.
They also had the first iPad/iPhone TV viewer that allowed all channels, but had to restrict it to IN-HOME USE ONLY to avoid contract difficulties with Broadcasters. | |
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| ski93
join:2005-02-14
Northwood, NH | Re: Aero probably won't fly The Broadway is a fantastic product. EggHead had a good deal on it..Not the Aero product by any means, but great to connect to your home video service and watch remotely anywhere...But I liked it most for connecting to my favorite football teams home market with an antenna service at a friends house. So no more 350 dollars a year to get Direct TV's football package...Great minor investment for one more way to not pay for cable or satv  | |
| | |  TamaraBQuestion The Current ParadigmPremium
join:2000-11-08
Da Bronx
·Optimum Online
 ·Clearwire Wireless
| Re: Aero probably won't fly Yes, this looks good. I just ordered one, (before they are pulled by the Maffia for IP infringement) be here in 2 days. I will plug a USB 500GB drive into it, and with it's DVR functionality, can record content to watch at another time.
I have no TV, no cable except Internet. I get all of my TV from Netflix, iTunes, some free streaming sites, plus some P2P. I watch content on my 27" iMac. This broadway box will bring in all the local OTA stations, about 9 (english speaking) here in the city. Perhaps I will even dabble with the security cam functionality.
I don't see what Aero does that this little box doesn't do, except perhaps having all? your OTA channels available on a "DVR" basis in the Aero cloud? This broadway has 2 tuners, for displaying (and recording?) 2 channels simultaneously. Looks like a cheaper and more local solution for getting OTA programming on any device you want, when you want.
What't interesting is that the broadcasters are going after Aero for what many have been doing for many years --watching local tv in any room of the house-- but are not concerned about all the hardware solutions out there capable of doing the same thing. If Aero is deemed "illegal" won't this Broadway box be as well?
Bob
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"Remember, remember the fifth of November.
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people"
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| | Charging for a free product!! Whatever you call it, broadcast television is essentially a free service. It's available to anyone with a digital tuner and an antenna (without getting into the apartment dweller/lack of signal issues). They somehow managed to get carriage fees from cable TV for broadcasting a free service. I think the broadcasters should pay everyone else for carriage!! Cable companies built their infrastructure and broadcasters don't contribute to maintaining that infrastructure. If broadcast TV wasn't on cable, in theory, many people could still watch with the aforementioned antenna. If cable wasn't forced to carry the local broadcast channels, imagine the viewership drop for the OTA stations. That translates to lower advertising revenue.
Broadcast desperately needs these new delivery methods unless they are willing to deliver the content themselves in a manner the consumer wants it. Cable started to give the consumer choices - TV Anywhere. Unfortunately if it were truly everywhere, then we wouldn't be locked into watching only on our home network. The archaic rules in place don't apply in 21st century technology. Broadcast will eventually die out if they don't adapt to the needs of those they serve.
Best example: ESPN. You subscribe at home with one of the many partners who give you access to ESPN Networks online. They're not trying to double dip.
Poorest Example: YES Network (NY Yankees) They try to get more money out of you by asking you to subscribe at an additional cost for the privilege of watching online within the home market instead of including it in the cable price. To add insult you can't watch outside of the YES home market.
Best solution: Cable company gives everyone a Slingbox along with your cable box.
Aereo is a great service but certainly not worth $12/month. | |
| | Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA | Re: Charging for a free product!! said by jasondean:If cable wasn't forced to carry the local broadcast channels, imagine the viewership drop for the OTA stations. That translates to lower advertising revenue.
Cable companies are only forced (except by the market) to carry OTA stations that don't receive retransmission consent fees. There is no law that forces them once a station demands such payment. | |
| | | | | Re: Charging for a free product!! Agreed. What I should have said is in many environments, people just can't watch local broadcast without cable. In many apartment buildings in big cities an antenna just won't work. In rural communities, you may only pick up a small percentage of the OTA signals. It's in broadcast's best interest to come up with a fair and balanced contract without trying to rape the consumer or the cable company.
As I said before, with broadcast television losing audience due to changing behaviors of their viewers, you would think giving those viewers additional methods to watch would be in their best interest. Aereo provides the delivery method and charges accordingly for that delivery but the broadcaster still gets to view their program (loaded with product placement and other revenue streams). Win-win!! | |
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b10010011Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA Reviews:
·Comcast Formerl..
| over the air broadcasts Seems to me Aereo needs to make the same re-distribution or re-transmitting or whatever agrement, that cable companies make to distribute these broadcasts.
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Bellingham Scanner Kicks Ass! »bhamscanner.kicks-ass.org/ | |
| pkorx8
join:2003-06-19
San Francisco, CA | slingbox How is this different from having a slingbox at your friends house, hooked up to a OTA tuner? | |
| |  Simba7I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT | Re: slingbox ..or an HDHomerun box connected to an external antenna and VPN'd into your network?
oops.. Better delete this post before the authorities arrive.. | |
|
TheMGPremium
join:2007-09-04
Canada
kudos:1 | FYI... Not everyone is within range of OTA broadcasts.
Assuming the service isn't regionally-restricted, it would be great for streaming OTA channels that are out of range. | |
| |  BlitzenZeusBurnt Out CynicPremium
join:2000-01-13
kudos:2
·Frontier FiOS
| Re: FYI... When I had cable internet only they would have charged me $10 for not having tv service so I got the $9 and change local channels only which even gave me the discovery channel which was mildly entertaining at times.
The cable services also usually offer similar things like for around $10 you could get your local channels plus a few select channels, however you might have to rent a box also, but some make it so hard to get, even hide the option from the public as they won't make the money from the large packages with mostly channels people won't watch. They want everyone to pay for a bloated package that has mostly channels they will not watch like espn, and disney which make up the bulk of the price in cable tv bills. Even broadcasters like fox want to be paid for rebroadcasting local channels people can get free ota which is double dipping.
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I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G. | |
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 TwiztedZeroNine Zero Burp Nine SixPremium
join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON
kudos:3 | [Cut] Cords *snippy, snippy* OTA + XBMC for us too! Don't need hulu/netflix.
Fusion add on makes it all worthwhile.
Meanwhiles I applaud Aereo and stand behind 'em in the face of the great corporatocracy and all their carpetbagger astroturfers. | |
| | TamaraBQuestion The Current ParadigmPremium
join:2000-11-08
Da Bronx Reviews:
·Optimum Online
·Clearwire Wireless
| Re: [Cut] Cords *snippy, snippy* said by TwiztedZero:OTA + XBMC for us too! Don't need hulu/netflix. ....
Never heard of XBMC till now. Looked at their site and it seems like a nice media center; but how does it replace Netflix and/or Hulu for acquireing aggregated content? | |
| | | Simba7I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT | Re: [Cut] Cords *snippy, snippy* said by TamaraB:Never heard of XBMC till now. What?? I still have this running on my old Xbox's. They still make a darn good media player after all these years.
I have around 10 Xboxes that have either been given to me, bought at the rescue mission for $5, or found abandoned due to a DVD drive failure.
Even without the DVD drive, it still makes a good network media player. Just need a working drive to get the softmod up and running. | |
| | | TwiztedZeroNine Zero Burp Nine SixPremium
join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON
kudos:3 Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| said by TamaraB:said by TwiztedZero:OTA + XBMC for us too! Don't need hulu/netflix. ....
Never heard of XBMC till now. Looked at their site and it seems like a nice media center; but how does it replace Netflix and/or Hulu for acquireing aggregated content? It does oh indeedy do kick ass f'n awesome!
XBMC Aggreation via FUSION
There are support forums and everything. And there is some work being done for droids and raspberry pi and more, a little reading and google fu goes a long way. Enjoy  
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You see there is only one constant. One universal. It is the only real truth. Causality. Action, reaction. Cause and effect.
Twitter:Merv Chat:irc.teksavvy.ca | |
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more smoke than fire
Aero probably won't fly