Aereo’s Supreme Court case could catch TiVo and others in its crossfire
The US Supreme Court today weighs the fate of Aereo, a New York startup that has stirred up the media industry by transmitting broadcast television over the internet without a copyright license. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin at 11am US eastern time.
In my preview of the case, I argued it could implicate other firms that stream TV over the internet or store media in the cloud. The word to listen for in today’s arguments is Cablevision, as in the 2008 appeals court decision approving that company’s cloud-based DVR. Prolonged discussion of the case would suggest the justices disagree with the ruling in Cablevision, which would in turn raise questions that go way beyond Aereo.
Think, for instance, about TiVo. The publicly traded company recently started selling products that let people watch recorded television on phones and tablets over the internet. If the justices think Aereo’s service is a copyright violation, then TiVo’s might be, too.
Another bystander could be Slingbox, which is owned by satellite operator EchoStar, a publicly traded spinoff of Dish Network. Slingbox streams TV programming to other devices. It hasn’t faced many legal challenges but could find itself implicated by the justices, which is why EchoStar and Dish submitted a brief (pdf) supporting Aereo.
http://qz.com/201378/aereos-supreme-court-case-could-catch-tivo-and-others-in-its-crossfire/