Aereo video streaming service expands to New York metro area
updated 08:15 pm EST, Mon February 25, 2013
Service available over 29 counties across NY, CT, NJ, PA
Aereo today announced that its Internet-repeating television service is now available to the more than 19 million people living in the New York City metropolitan area. The region includes 29 counties across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Previously, Aereo was only available to residents of New York City's five boroughs.
The expansion into the NYC metropolitan areas comes less than two months after the company's announcement in January of its intention to expand to 22 additional markets in 2013. Aereo works on 'smart' devices from tablets to phones to laptop computers to stream DVR and live television content. The service is currently supported on iOS devices, Chrome, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Safari, Opera, AppleTV through AirPlay, and Roku players.
The service has come under legal fire from television broadcasters, accusing the startup of copyright infringement and illegal rebroadcasting. The networks have asked judges to order an injunction preventing the service from functioning. The pre-launch injunction failed, largely on the legal weakness on the distinction of forcing each subscriber to have an individual antenna to receive the HD signal, rather than Aereo-based antenna with the signal repeated thousands of times to individual subscribers through the Internet.
In the New York City metro area, there are 30 over-the-air broadcast channels available to consumers using Aereo's technology. No cable subscription is required to use the television service, and membership plans begin at $1 per day, $8 per month or $80 per year.
