05/29, 7:12pm
ABC president, Aereo CEO interviews show differing views
At the Wall Street Jourmal D11 conference, ABC Television president Anne Sweeney and online television streaming service Aereo CEO Barry Diller were interviewed separately, with vastly differing opinions on the recently expanded startup which has seen its share of lawsuits both instigated by and delivered unto it. The ABC president called Aereo "wrong," adding that she believes that "it is illegal, and it is opportunistic piracy" despite no court yet agreeing with her sentiment.
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05/14, 2:07pm
T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon to stock BlackBerry Q10 in June
The BlackBerry Q10 is making its way to the US on three different carriers in the summer, after launches in Canada and the UK. T-Mobile states it will sell the smartphone for $100 and 24 monthly installments of $20 or $580 outright, and expects to have it in June. Verizon also claims it will stock the phone in June, though does not reveal how much for, and Sprint confirms it will carry the handset, but it will launch on the network "in late summer" and for an undisclosed price.
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05/13, 2:12pm
Netflix updates PlayStation 3 Player app with revised design
Netflix has updated its streaming app for the PlayStation 3. The new Netflix Player has a revised design that brings it in line with the web and mobile device versions, according to a company blog post, as well as options to change the audio and subtitles for a show or film. The design of "trickplay" mode has also been adjusted, allowing for faster-loading preview images to load when seeking for a specific scene in a movie.
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04/23, 11:48am
Cloud-based DVR service roll-out to invite users initially
Live TV streaming service Aereo is going to expand its service to Boston, Massachusetts. Over 4.5 million people in the Boston metropolitan area will be able to use Aereo, which includes a cloud-based DVR as part of the service, and will be the second city that Aereo will operate in, after its initial launch in New York City.
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04/10, 1:17pm
Echoes earlier Fox threat to cease over-the-air broadcasts
CBS is considering a possible move to cable if Aereo continues to operate, following comments from another broadcaster. Chief executive Les Moonves voiced approval of Fox Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey's earlier threat to cease over-the-air broadcasts, though it such an action is unlikely to occur in the first place.
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04/08, 2:32pm
Vodafone Australia to roll out 4G coverage in June
Vodafone is to launch its 4G services to Australian customers in June. The initial rollout will see Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Wollongong, Newcastle, and the Gold Coast covered with 4G service, according to ZDNet. Tests on the 4G signal shows it as having a download speed of 80Mbps and an upload of 20Mbps, with a claimed maximum of 150Mbps possible for some customers. Like its competitors, national carriers Telstra and Optus, Vodafone will be keeping its 4G service charges the same as its 3G access, and hopes to have 1,000 4G sites operational by the end of 2013.
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04/01, 1:45pm
Cloud-based DVR, TV service deemed not infringing copyright
Live TV streaming service Aereo has won a major court battle against a number of television networks, after the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal from broadcasters. The two-to-one vote confirms that Aereo does not infringe the copyrights of broadcasters, and clears the legal standing of the service in general.
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02/25, 8:15pm
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.
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01/08, 2:59pm
Expansion made possible by $38M cash infusion
Live TV streaming service Aereo is planning to expand to 22 more US cities this year, the company has announced via its website. The full list includes Austin, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington, Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Cleveland, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, Birmingham, Providence, and Madison (WI). The expansion appears to be possible because of $38 million in second-round venture capital funding. Several firms and "select individuals" are mentioned as sources for the money.
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09/29, 11:15pm
Claim: new media delivery channels should be illegal before review
In an amicus brief in the Aereo television Internet streaming case, the former Register of Copyrights, Ralph Oman has claimed that new distribution methods of potentially copyrighted material should be cleared through Congress for approval before the technology hits the market. Oman goes so far in his brief to claim that when the US copyright law revision in 1976 that Congress specifically intended new technologies to apply before potentially disrupting existing distribution methods and other businesses associated with the release.
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08/12, 3:04pm
BarryDriller.com now in network crosshairs
Even as broadcast companies battle streaming service Aereo in court over copyright infringement, other similar services are popping up; and Fox is now suing yet another company that streams its broadcasts to mobile devices. BarryDriller.com, playfully named after Barry Diller, TV mogul and Aereo investor, operates in a manner similar to Aereo but is available in more markets. As GigaOm reports, though, the new service appears willing to negotiate with the broadcasters,
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08/02, 7:12pm
Adds Day Pass tier with three-hour DVR recording
Online television rebroadcaster Aereo has updated its pricing from its original $12 per month flat rate. The new charges for the service includes a free trial, granting residents of New York one hour of viewing a day, and a number of different tiers. The changes come one month after a judge ruled in favor of Aereo, after ABC, CBS, and NBC all sued after accusing the service of illegally copying and retransmitting their programming.
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07/11, 10:35pm
Judge says law requires she reject broadcasters' request
A judge ruled today that New York startup Aereo must be allowed to continue sending live television programming to iPhones and other mobile devices in the city. Networks including ABC, NBC, and CBS had sued Aereo for copyright infringement, accusing the company of illegally copying and retransmitting their programming over the Internet. In her decision, Bloomberg reports, Judge Alison Nathan said she understood how Aereo's practices could be unfair to the broadcasters, but the law left her no option other than to allow Aereo to continue transmitting.
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04/09, 7:35pm
Works with content providers to provide streaming
Atlanta-based Skitter has launched a streaming service to offer TV broadcasts directly over the Internet to Roku or WD Live set-top boxes. The service is currently available in Portland, Oregon, with plans to expand to 5 other metro markets by the end of June. What differentiates Skitter from previous efforts to offer live TV over the web is that the company has negotiated licenses for retransmission rights with broadcasters such as ABC, NBC and CBS in each of the markets it serves.
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03/20, 4:10pm
Aereo expands countering lawsuits
Aereo on Tuesday grew its countersuits against TV networks to include several more networks. Fox, PBS, Univision, WPIX, and WNET were all targeted under a complaint that wanted the judge to rule that Aereo wasn't violating the networks' copyrights. It had already sued ABC, CBS, and NBCUniversal a week ago.
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03/12, 4:25pm
Aereo demands clearance to keep broadcasting
Aereo started off the week with a countersuit hoping to stop a broadcaster lawsuit targeting its fledgling mobile TV streaming service. The service wanted the court to declare that Aereo didn't violate the copyrights of ABC, CBS, and NBCUniversal, effectively negating the original complaint. None of the services had formally tried to stop the launch of Aereo, which goes live on Wednesday.
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03/01, 8:35pm
All major NYC broadcasters involved in suits
A number of broadcasting companies have quickly moved to sue Aereo, a startup that aims to stream broadcast HDTV content. The broadcasters are attempting to prevent the service from launching, accusing the startup of copyright infringement and asking judges to order an injunction to block the service before it becomes available to the public.
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02/14, 12:25pm
Aereo mobile TV kicks off at event
IAC has hoped to reinvigorate the idea of live TV on modern devices by starting up Aereo at a special event on Tuesday. The platform streams over the Internet but is getting mover 20 channels of true broadcast HDTV through huge grids of fingertip-sized tuners at Aereo's end. A cloud-based DVR with 40 hours of space lets viewers save favorite shows to watch later.
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