Broadcasters Challenge Aereokiller in D.C.
May 23, 2013 | 10:18PM PT
Ted Johnson, Senior Editor
Variety.com
http://variety.com/2013/biz/box-office/broadcasters-challenge-aereokiller-in-d-c-1200487495/
Broadcast networks filed suit on Thursday to halt a company from
offering streams of their signals in the Washington D.C. market, in the
latest effort to challenge the legality of a bevy of services seeking to
provide over-the-air television on the Internet.
Fox, NBC, ABC and Allbritton Communications filed a claim in U.S.
District Court in Washington against Aereokiller, the provocatively
named company founded by FilmOn’s Alki David. The name comes from Aereo,
the startup financed by Barry Diller that has so far prevailed in court
against broadcasters’ efforts to halt its streaming service in the New
York market. It does so via a remote system of dime-sized antennas,
their signals beamed to each assigned subscriber.
Aereokiller, too, uses tiny antennas, according to David, but it faced a
different fate in the Los Angeles market. When the networks challenged
the legality of Aereokiller in L.A., a federal court ruled in favor of
the broadcasters, prohibiting the company from stealing their signals in
the western states of the Ninth Circuit. That put the decision in
conflict with that of the New York federal courts, raising the prospect
that the case will eventually end up in the Supreme Court.
The broadcast networks are anxious to limit the expansion plans of Aereo
and Aereokiller, challenging them in other jurisdictions. “Our complaint
filed today in the federal district court for the District of Columbia
underscores our commitment to vigorously protect our copyrighted
programming from illegal appropriation by opportunistic pirates,” they
said in a joint statement.
Having expanded into Dallas, Miami and other cities as well, David has
insisted that Aereokiller’s streaming is legal, and is appealing in the
Ninth Circuit in California.
_______________________________________________
Medianews mailing list
[email protected]
http://etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews_etskywarn.net
