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Alki David Agrees To End Name Games With Aereo And Barry Diller

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 12:26pm PDTTags: Alki David, Barry Diller, FilmOn

The freewheeling head of FilmOn has to stop using names including Aereokiller and BarryDriller.com for his broadcast streaming service according a settlement overseen by U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Collins. The decision appears to end three lawsuits: Last year IAC chief Barry Diller — a major investor in Aereo — sued David for creating a site called BarryDriller.com. In February, David returned fire, suing Aereo for trademark infringement after he bought the naming rights to a product called Aero.  And in March, Aereo sued David for creating a site called Aero.tv. Like Aereo, FilmOn streams programming taken from over-the-air signals — and has also incurred the wrath of broadcasters who say that it violates their copyrights. A New York court has allowed Aereo to expand while it weighs the broadcasters’ challenge. But in December a California court granted a temporary injunction that applies locally against David’s service. Even so, he says that with the trademark settlements FilmOn now “can continue rolling out our service nationwide. We are currently in 45 markets compared to Aereo’s two.” He adds in a statement: “So eat s*it Barry.”

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Should Broadcast Investors Look For Exits After Aereo’s Court Victory?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday April 1, 2013 @ 3:18pm PDTTags: Aereo, FilmOn, Retransmission Consent Fees

Many seemed to think so today after a U.S. Appeals Court ruled that Aereo’s streaming service can stay in business while the company defends itself against a suit by broadcasters who say that it violates their copyrights. Broadcasters were among media’s big losers on Wall Street today; for example CBS was -2.2%, Gannett was -3%, and Sinclair was -3.7%. If the courts uphold Aereo’s right to retransmit over-the-air signals without paying stations, then it could derail broadcasters’ hopes of collecting billions each year from pay TV retransmission consent fees.  That’s possible, BTIG’s Richard Greenfield says: Today’s decision should cause the major networks to “accept Aereo’s legality and figure out how to deal with the implications to their business.” Considering the scope of the reasoning in the verdict, it’s “difficult to imagine how the broadcasters stand a chance of winning at trial in the District Court later this year or even how they could appeal a District Court loss to this Appellate Court.” As a result, he expects Aereo to accelerate its expansion plans — the service is up in NYC and plans to launch in 22 additional markets this year. (It tweeted last week that a Boston service will come “very, very soon.”) The analyst also says cable and satellite companies likely will now feel emboldened to resist broadcasters’ demands for high fees for their must-have programming while cable networks “look to license content to Aereo.” Read More »

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Alki David Can Keep Using ‘Aero’ During Name-Game Suits With Aereo

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday March 13, 2013 @ 8:14am PDTTags: Aereo, Alki David, Barry Diller, FilmOn

UPDATE, 10:51 AM: Aereo spokesperson Virginia Lam says the company is “disappointed that the judge declined to rule on the merits on an emergency basis” but adds that it is “confident that when the merits are considered in connection … Read More »

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Aereo Sues FilmOn As It Becomes Embroiled In Alki David’s Name Game

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday March 7, 2013 @ 3:52pm PSTTags: Aereo, Alki David, FilmOn

In a perfect world, FilmOn’s Alki David would stop fooling around with personal and corporate names and let the courts deal with serious questions instead of whether he’s done something to sully someone’s reputation or infringe on a trademark. … Read More »

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Alki David Plans $100M Ad Campaign To Promote FilmOn

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday March 1, 2013 @ 8:47am PSTTags: Alki David, FilmOn

The media industry provocateur is irked that journalists (including me) take his bete noir, Barry Diller-backed Aereo, more seriously than his FilmOn.TV. But now Alki David will bring his message directly to the public. He says that he’ll start an ad campaign in the New York tri-state area to promote his streaming service with messages on TV, online, print and outdoor. His company adds that the marketing “will also be rolled out in the coming weeks in the other 30 major U.S. markets which the FilmOn service is already freely available” including Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Washington DC, San Francisco and Denver. David says Boston will come online next week with other cities to be added each week “thereafter.” The first TV ad shows David “driving a red Ferrari at high speed while watching TV on a mobile phone. A second commercial featuring Mike The Situation from Jersey Shore fame will appear on local television in the coming weeks.” Read More »

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Is The Latest Lawsuit From FilmOn’s Alki David Full Of Hot Aereo?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 2:12pm PSTTags: Aereo, Aereokiller, Alki David, BarryDriller.com, FilmOn

I’m getting a headache trying to keep track of FilmOn‘s Alki David feud with Aereo, and especially the lawsuits over who has the right to use different corporate names. David’s already defending himself in a … Read More »

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TV Networks Get Tentative Victory In Aereokiller Streaming Case

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday December 20, 2012 @ 5:57pm PSTTags: ABC, Aereokiller, Alki David, CBS, FilmOn

ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox got a step closer today to shutting down Alki David’s online streaming of their shows. Judge George Wu granted the networks their mutually desired tentative preliminary injunction against the digital … Read More »

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UPDATE: Fox Responds To Countersuit By Streaming Tech Firm FilmOn

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday November 8, 2012 @ 5:05pm PSTTags: Aereokiller, BarryDriller.com, FilmOn, Fox Broadcasting

UPDATE, 9:24 AM: Fox put out a statement today in response to the trade libel lawsuit FilmOn filed against them Thursday:

Although we have not seen the suit we welcome the opportunity to let the court determine the legitimacy of Mr. David’s business practices.

… Read More »

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Alki David Introduces Offbeat Programming On Los Angeles TV Station

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday September 11, 2012 @ 8:39am PDTTags: Alki David, FilmOn

I can’t tell whether the digital entrepreneur is spending a lot of money to goof on everybody, or whether he seriously believes he can generate a profit in strange enterprises that reflect his idiosyncratic sensibilities. In any case, Alki David is at it again today: He’s introducing a lineup of TV shows on KILM (Channel 64, formerly KHIZ) — where he has the operating rights, and which he’s calling FilmOn.TV LA. Personalities will include himself, Kato Kaelin, comedian Andy Dick, and model Janice Dickinson. ”This is true interactive television where the audience is able to vote and interact by webcam and/or mobile phone,” David says. It’s being carried locally by cable providers including Time Warner Cable, as well as by DirecTV and Dish Network. By the end of 2013 FilmOn.tv LA will be available “in a good percentage of the cable Universe and (over-the-air) in the USA, as well as major international territories,” David says. Read More »

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NBC, ABC, And CBS File Their Own Suit Against “BarryDriller.com” Streaming Site

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday August 13, 2012 @ 3:17pm PDTTags: ABC, Alki David, Big Deals TV, CBS, FilmOn, NBC

UPDATE, 6:30 PM: The lawyer for Aereokiller LLC — the Alki David company behind BarryDriller.com — wrote a letter to NBC’s lawyer today saying that the streaming site will suspend carriage of KNBC “pending an orderly resolution … Read More »

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UPDATE: Alki David Vows To Keep Fighting CBS As He Plans Aereo-Like Business

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday August 1, 2012 @ 2:15pm PDTTags: Alki David, Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, CBS, FilmOn

UPDATE, 3:35 PM: The settlement deal that Alki David signed with CBS and other broadcasters in two copyright infringement cases is “back off,” he tells me. CBS “renegged” on the agreement by releasing it in a way designed to embarrass him, he says. “If they want to do that, I’m reneging on any agreement and I’m fighting them.” He signed the settlement on July 27 because it only required him to withdraw from his copyright infringement suit against CBS — meaning that it could continue without him. Also he says he wants to do business with CBS and other broadcasters in a new enterprise similar to Aereo. But now he says that he’s “going to go all out to drag [CBS] through the court system,” charging that the broadcaster has a “culture of deceit and underhandedness.” CBS declined to respond. Read More »

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