News Corp. COO: If we lose Aereo lawsuit, Fox may stop broadcasting
TV networks have waged several high-profile legal battles against services trying to stream their content over the Internet without a license. Mostly, the networks have succeeded: FilmOn and ivi TV were two recent casualties.
But the networks have lost two major legal battles that open up a door for new, legal services: first the Cablevision case over the remote DVR, and just last week, the appeals court decision ruling that Aereo doesn't infringe copyright. Aereo has "hacked" copyright law by creating a service that uses thousands of tiny antennas, with one corresponding to each subscriber. By putting the subscriber in total control of what content gets redistributed, Aereo is in the clear. It charges subscribers $8 a month to watch New York broadcast TV over the Internet.
Judging from comments made today by the chief operations officer for News Corp., Chase Carey, the Aereo loss must really sting. Speaking at the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, Carey said the subscription revenue that his company, which owns Fox Broadcasting, gets from cable companies is absolutely vital. If it gets robbed of that cashflow because of the Aereo case, it might actually get out of the free-TV business.
"We simply cannot provide the type of quality sports, news, and entertainment content that we do from an ad supported only business model," said Carey, according to a CNET report. "We have no choice but to develop business solutions that ensure we continue to remain in the driver's seat of our own destiny. One option could be converting the Fox broadcast network to a pay channel, which we would do in collaboration with both our content partners and affiliates."
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/news-corp-coo-if-we-lose-aereo-copyright-case-well-stop-broadcasting/
GO AEREO
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