Barry Diller Says Aereo Will Be In “Every Major American City” By End Of 2013

COMMENTS (9)

• I don’t like it, but Barry’s right.

  Comment by 5% — Thursday July 12, 2012 @ 4:54pm EDT  Reply to this post

• So why r satellite and cable paying retransmission fees for programming I get free in hd with an antenna?

  Comment by jt — Thursday July 12, 2012 @ 4:58pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • You are paying to not have to switch from your cable/satellite box to your antenna. That is what people did for years to watch local TV before the satellite companies carried local channels.

    I don’t know why there is so much resistance to Aereo. Maybe I don’t understand the product right, but it basically makes your computer/tablet/mobile device able into a TV capable of picking up over the air broadcasts. How is this different than the various TV tuner cards you can install in your computer, many of which have “place shifting” apps that allow you to watch from your portable device? Why would being able to carry around a portable TV with antenna be allowed and this not?

    Comment by No One of Consequence — Thursday July 12, 2012 @ 6:36pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • Why is Aereo charging $12/month for people to use their service, without passing on any of that to the content creators?

    For that matter, why would anyone PAY $12/month for something they can get for free? Answer: Aereo lets them easily skip ads. That undermines the networks so of course they want to be compensated for the lost ad viewing.

    Fundamentally, this is the same fight as over DishTV’s AutoHop. What’s going on is this: technology is inevitably going to allow consumers to bypass ads. (It does now, obviously, through piracy.) The networks are fighting a losing battle trying to keep everyone on the ad-viewing system.

    They need to admit defeat and come up with creative and positive solutions, such as, offer a second tier of viewing experience, without ads, for a higher price.

    Netflix already offers this. If you’re patient you can get the vast majority of TV shows via streaming, without ads. (Even shows that aren’t available via streaming are generally available on DVD.) You pay a monthly service charge and Netflix shares revenue with all content providers.

    This is the system people want, and it works. Some people want the Netflix system, but faster. They don’t want to wait six months for their TV shows, especially not broadcast. So the networks should offer yet another tier – no ads, and no wait.

    To make the whole system work, it needs to be like this: no ads, no wait = most expensive. No ads, wait = less expensive. Ads, no wait = that’s broadcast, and that’s free.

    Just give people choices at different price points and let them choose. But don’t pretend like technology isn’t already letting them choose already. More choice will prevent people from using technology to become pirates or possibly will divert some folks from piracy now.

    Comment by scififan — Thursday July 12, 2012 @ 6:43pm EDT  Reply to this post

    • I don’t see anywhere that Aeroe skips the commercials. In fact, how would they skip commercials and maintain a live feed? If you are refering to the DVR capabilities they offer, how is this different than any DVR?

      The smart move here by the networks would be to look at Aeroe users as standard viewers, then tell their advertisers they offer more viewers than before watching their commercials and in program product placements.

      Comment by No One Of Consequence — Thursday July 12, 2012 @ 7:09pm EDT  Reply to this post

      • The bigger issue is the satellite and cable companies jumping onboard the Aereo system and bypassing paying the networks for retransmission fees. If that happens, then networks will lose billions in retrans fees.

        They don’t give a crap about this little company, their fear is losing big time retrans fees and lucrative sports contracts.

        If Aereo wins in court, it will be a major blow to free OTA TV and in 20 years we’ll be looking at it as the tipping point when TV was no longer free over the air. Broadcast networks are already on the verge of becoming cable networks, it won’t take much to push them over the edge.

        Comment by Disruptionjunction — Friday July 13, 2012 @ 12:26am EDT  Reply to this post

• Would it be illegal for someone to rent televisions with antennas and dvr’s attached? That is essentially what this is. Everything here is available for free if you live in the broadcast area. Aereo is just renting the machines (technology) to watch it. You still have to watch the commercials.

  Comment by Tophy Verdugo — Thursday July 12, 2012 @ 5:35pm EDT  Reply to this post

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  I believe the furor is over that they charge the consumer but pass none of the money on. If the broadcasters don’t challenge that (or lose their challenge) than the satellite and cable providers have an out to not pay those retransmission fees either.

  Comment by Anonymous — Thursday July 12, 2012 @ 7:55pm EDT  Reply to this post

• This is going to be the biggest battle ever over broadcast retransmission fees. If Diller wins, everyone except the broadcasters win. If Diller loses, we can only guess what the broadcasters will attack next.

  Comment by Bob — Friday July 13, 2012 @ 11:02am EDT  Reply to this post