Broadcasters have succeeded in their attempts to bar Aereo from live-streaming content after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction against the company.
Aereo, the disruptive live TV-streaming service which was shot down by broadcasters in a Supreme Court ruling in June, lost its appealed right to be treated as a cable company. In a 17-page ruling, Thursday, a New York federal judge barred Aereo from transmitting live TV programs to its subscribers and refrained from offering it license to operate as a cable company. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan issued a temporary ban order to Aereo. This is a major victory for broadcasters, but it also gives a hope of survival for the baffled startup, Reuters reported.
With an approved license to operate as a cable company, Aereo would have continued its operations as norm. But Judge Nathan's denial hinted at the company's future survival through its cloud-DVR service. Previously, Aereo streamed live or relayed programs to subscribers' phones, laptops or tablets through a minuscule antenna assigned for each user. The tiny receiver captured shows and streamed it directly on customers' devices. The company also offered DVR service that recorded shows to be watched later.
Judge Nathan did not immediately fulfill broadcasters' request to stop the company from running its DVR service, which could be the only source for Aereo to survive. Broadcasters and Aereo are ordered to prepare final submissions on the DVR issues, based on which the decision will be made soon, GigaOm reported.
"And there may be both factual and legal nuances unique to fully time-shifted retransmission that have not been fleshed out that may influence this Court's application of the Supreme Court's holding to what is essentially the remote DVR aspect of Aereo's operations," Judge Nathan said in her ruling.
So far, all legal decisions are made in the favor of broadcasters, which includes the industry's leading television networks CBS Corp, Comcast Corp's NBC, Walt Disney Co's ABC and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's Fox. Aereo landed in their bad books after the company declined to pay a license fee for programming.
"We are reviewing the decision and evaluating our options moving forward," Aereo spokeswoman Virginia Lam told Reuters.
