Which is exactly what may happen next week when the traditional broadcasters see their case against Aereo presented before the Supreme Court. To date the lower courts have almost universally upheld Aereo's position that it is providing private broadcasts to individuals at their specific request in their homes vs. the Broadcasters claims that Aereo is stealing their signal and making money off that signal's rebroadcast to consumers.
What Aereo does is actually a fairly simple concept to grasp. Essentially they locate thousands of "bunny ears" in a single location that are all controlled by the end consumer. The consumer logs into their computer (or TV for that matter) and directs the said bunny ears to tune themselves to a particular TV station that is broadcast over the air (say your local NBC affiliate). That signal is then sent to your device (be it phone, TV, computer) over the internet in all its HD glory. Really no different that a pair of bunny ears located REALLY far away from you and a really long wire attaching your device to them. For this service Aereo charges $12 a month.
Obviously the big Broadcasters HATE this as they typically have you locked into paying near $200 or more a month for your "bundle" which includes tons of content you don't want (BET? Univision? Oprah? No thank you!). Allowing consumers to pick their content cafeteria style is their ultimate horror show and this is one step in that direction.
So it comes to the Supreme Court to decide whether innovation will be allowed in the industry or if the ability to build a better mouse trap should be squashed because of the Big Money Boys with an archaic distribution system. Bet you left wingers are hoping for that free-market capitalism opinion to come through loud and clear for once huh? Nothing brings people together like their hatred for their cable company....
