The Supreme Court ruled Aereo, a startup Internet company which streams shows, has to pay broadcasters when it takes television programs from the airwaves and allows subscribers to watch them on smartphones and other portable devices, according to Reuters.
The justices said by a 6-3 vote on Wednesday that Aereo is violating the broadcasters' copyrights by taking the signals for free, Reuters reported. The ruling preserves the ability of the television networks to collect huge fees from cable and satellite systems that transmit their programming.
Aereo looks a lot like a cable system, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the court in rejecting the company's attempts to distinguish itself from cable and satellite TV, according to Reuters. "Aereo's system is, for all practical purposes, identical to a cable system," he said.
Aereo is available in New York, Boston, Houston and Atlanta among 11 metropolitan areas and uses thousands of dime-size antennas to capture television signals and transmit them to subscribers who pay as little as $8 a month for the service, Reuters reported.
Aereo chief executive Chet Kanojia called the decision "a massive setback for the American consumer" and said the company would continue to fight, without being specific, according to Reuters.
"We've said all along that we worked diligently to create a technology that complies with the law, but today's decision clearly states that how the technology works does not matter. This sends a chilling message to the technology industry," Kanojia said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Broadcasters including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS sued Aereo for copyright infringement, saying Aereo should pay for redistributing the programming in the same way cable and satellite systems must or risk high-profile blackouts of channels that anger their subscribers, according to Reuters.
The National Association of Broadcasters praised the court for rejecting Aereo's argument that the lawsuit was an attack on innovation, Reuters reported.
"Broadcasters embrace innovation every day, as evidenced by our leadership in HDTV, social media, mobile apps, user-generated content, along with network TV backed ventures like Hulu," NAB president Gordon Smith said, according to Reuters.
