Galt's Gulch

Aereo goes bust

Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 11 months ago to Business
14 comments | Share | Flag

I think the courts got this one right. I'm still trying to figure out who the three were who sided with Aereo, as I'm surprised this one even made it to the Supreme Court.
SOURCE URL: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-25/aereo-lost-at-the-supreme-court-dot-now-what

Add Comment

FORMATTING HELP

All Comments Hide marked as read Mark all as read

    -
  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 11 months ago
    Here's a brief on the matter, including the decisions at a fundamental level:
    http://www2.bloomberglaw.com/public/desk...

    I have to admit that I have mixed feelings, but I think the thing that gets me in the end is that unlike cable programming in which the original licensee gets paid for retransmission of broadcasts, Aereo was not paying license fees to the original broadcasters - despite the fact that they were acting as a conduit not for the public in general but for specific viewers.

    I do agree, however, that the current cabal running the TV market needs a change to allow for a la carte programming. I never watch live TV anymore except for sports broadcasts - mostly because I refuse to pay $100/month for 1000 channels of which 99.5% are junk.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by maxsilver 9 years, 11 months ago
      Thanks for the link! After some reading I get the courts reasoning. From what I can tell the antennas are not located at the subscribers location but at the providers location. That makes it retransmission. So, it looks like I am incorrect! If they would send you an antenna and a box with an internet connection That could solve the issue.

      Thanks for the clarification.

      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
    I'm not so sure.

    Can I record a show broadcast on the airwaves for viewing at my leisure? Even if that means that I can keep it "forever?" The answer is yes, and it is done all the time.

    Why should it be any different to have a 3rd party do the recording? They had a separate antenna for each customer, so each customer essentially was renting a remote recording apparatus - but it was the customer that selected the items to record. Shouldn't be any different than if I am renting a DVR that I can access by remote means (cell phone anyone?) to record shows off the airwaves and not just off cable.

    I haven't read the full decision, so I don't know the exact rationale used, but this just doesn't seem right to me.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    -
  • Posted by maxsilver 9 years, 11 months ago
    No! It is wrong! If I have an antenna on my house and use a recording device be it VHS tape or digital recording device and save it to my account in the cloud it is mine to use how ever I please because it is my recording no matter what the storage. There is no "retransmission" of any content "owned" by the storage provider. If VUDU can store my content so can Aereo.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
      -
    • Posted by $ CBJ 9 years, 11 months ago
      I don't think a recording you make of copyrighted material is yours to use however you please. Recording rights extend only to personal non-commercial use.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
        -
      • Posted by maxsilver 9 years, 11 months ago
        In my opinion, anything broadcast over public airways is in the public domain. I can use it as I see fit so long as I am not directly making a profit from resale.
        Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
          -
        • Posted by $ CBJ 9 years, 11 months ago
          Would that include uploading anything broadcast over public airways to YouTube or other internet sites?
          Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
            -
          • Posted by maxsilver 9 years, 11 months ago
            That would be redistribution. That is what the court said was being done. but my opinion is that the people using the service are doing nothing but recording for their own usage. Now if the service was allowing people to copy from one persons account to another persons account, that would also be redistribution and not permissible. I should probably not used the term "public domain" but should qualify that as freely available to access (and easily recorded if I cared to). Like a book, I cannot reprint and sell a book with out paying a royalty but I can still sell the book when I'm done with it as long as I don't make copies of it for further usage or distribution. If someone takes my copy and gives it to someone and keeps a copy for themselves that is not right but not my problem.
            VUDU is already doing this. I buy television shows and movies from them and they keep them in my library. I could also record shows from an off air broadcast push them up to my google cloud account and watch them when ever I wanted to from wherever I am. I don't see a problem here as long as it is for my personal usage.
            Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
            • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
            • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
              The difference is that VUDU is paying for the rights to redistribute those shows.
              Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
                -
              • Posted by maxsilver 9 years, 11 months ago
                Aereo is not distributing anything- they are recording what the customer is receiving off-air and saving it for them to watch at a later time. Much like TIVO only the storage space is in the cloud not in the set top box. VUDU is selling me a copy of the the digital image. With VUDU I can import videos I have purchased from other sources and replay them there so it is just like going to Wally World, purchasing a DVD, take it home upload the DVD to my local digital storage medium then push it up to my cloud library.
                Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
                • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
                • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
                  Yes, that's what I said.
                  Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
                  • Posted by maxsilver 9 years, 11 months ago
                    I think we are all on the same page here except for the original post which said the court got it right.... I think they got it wrong. VUDU type operations are selling me something besides storage space. Aereo is selling storage space with an app that makes it easy to store my off air video. That is a good thing, I think this really needs to be revisited by the court.
                    Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  

FORMATTING HELP

  • Comment hidden. Undo