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posted by
Dopefish
on Friday February 21 2014, @12:00PM
from the what-doesn't-kill-you-makes-you-stronger dept.
from the what-doesn't-kill-you-makes-you-stronger dept.
Fluffeh writes:
"Although there are arguments scheduled for 22 April in the Supreme Court, US District Judge Dale Kimball of Utah ruled against Aereo which effectively bans it in Utah along with the rest of the 10th Circuit, which includes Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado.
Kimball ruled that Aereo's retransmission of Plaintiffs' copyrighted programs "is indistinguishable from a cable company and falls squarely within the language of the Transmit Clause." He didn't buy Aereo's argument that its system of renting a tiny antenna to each customer allows it to avoid the "Transmit Clause" of the 1976 Copyright Act, which determines what kind of "transmissions" of copyrighted material must pay licensing fees."
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Aereo Suffers Loss and Hopes for Supreme Court Win
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Grelb's Reminder:
Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above
average drivers.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Angelwind on Friday February 21 2014, @07:08PM
When VCRs came out for the masses, the broadcast companies tried to stop it because time shifting was akin to the Boston Strangler. And then the court said that it's fine (with the help of Mr. Fred Rogers himself making a case for being able to record his shows) and Hollywood discovered a new market for movies and TV shows.
When Tivo came along they screamed just as loud because you could skip commercials. While you could fast forward past them on VCRs, you would still see the video you're going past. With a Tivo you only saw snippets of commercials as you jumped to the next segment of the show. Tivo eventually caved, but like the VCR no one was actually hurt.
I see Aereo as a remote Tivo and should be treated as such. The only difference is that I'm renting the antenna and the equipment that is not physically at my house so I can watch their shows. They're using the Cablevison ruling as their basis, and I find it sound reasoning that I hope the Supreme Court goes with. Broadcasting is free-to-air and as long as they are not breaking any rules as far as public performances, and only I have access to my recordings, then they're not doing anything wrong except doing the hard work of getting me a good signal for my rented antenna (which is a huge pain in the first place and some days makes me miss analog) and giving me DVR functionality on top of it. I used to work in the TV industry so I know how advertising is needed for local stations to stay on the air, but when you look at the ratings for first time airings of prime time shows, I don't think Aereo is going to hurt them, and may actually help them in the long run, because people will finally be able to get their channels again.
What broadcast companies are worried about is cable companies (and satellite when they do local channels) coming up with the same idea as Aereo and not having to have to pay retransmission fees because hey, tiny antennas for all our subscribers!