The CEO told analysts this evening he’s “very confident” that the copyright infringement charges that CBS and other broadcasters are raising against Aereo will prevail in U.S. District Court. That appeared questionable last month when Judge Alison Nathan declined to pull the plug on Aereo while she considers arguments about whether the streaming service is legal. Broadcasters say that Aereo has no right to build a subscription streaming business using their programming without paying them. But the Barry Diller-backed upstart says that the shows are already available for free to anyone with an antenna, which is what it offers — remotely — to its customers. Moonves called the recent ruling a “minor loss” adding that “it’s not even the first out of the first inning.” CBS has a lot at stake in the case: It expects to see at least $250M this year in revenues from pay TV distributors as a result of retransmission consent negotiations. Some investors fear that pay TV companies will pull back on those payments if they see that Aereo’s able to retransmit broadcasters’ signals for free. Those who believe that “are exaggerating greatly,” Moonves says. “It’s not something I lose sleep over for even 5 minutes.” This morning Aereo announced a new array of pricing options for customers in New York, its first market. Diller says it will be in most major U.S. cities by the end of next year.
Related: Aereo Offers Free Trials While Battle With Broadcasters Continues
Alki David Vows To Keep Fighting CBS As He Plans Aereo-Like Business


So why do cable distributors pay the broadcast networks
They pay them for the honor of taking the network’s over-the-air signals and retransmitting them over the lines or satellites that the pay-tv provider owns. Yes, those same signals that are sent out over the free and public airwaves that you and I and the FCC let them use. And then on top of that, we let the networks put in advertizing for them to make more money off of, reinvesting a small portion of that to programming and a much much larger portion into their deep mega 1% pockets. Oh and then we the pay-tv subscribers end up paying higher bills to pay for the retransmission agreements that the providers need to have.
Yup. The whole thing is a load. That’s why I AutoHop.
If Aereo succeeds at all, CBS will simply pull its programs off of OTA. Done and done. 100% of cable systems will continue to pay and the minuscule audience that gets CBS from OTA is worthless to advertisers anyway.
Aereo will either (a) lose, since it’s violating existing law (b) pay for signals like everyone else or (c) fail because it’s a dumb business model.
@Mark. Not true. Broadcast channels are mandated by law to be OTA. The only way they get to pull their programs off is by a legal change.
Let’s be honest, CBS has the money and that’s all the FCC cares about. The FCC will get bribed by the networks and the networks will get their way.