Aereo’s service that will allow subscribers in New York City to watch broadcast television programs on personal computers and smartphones violates copyright laws, television networks said.
Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and other networks said in two separate complaints filed Friday in federal court in Manhattan that Aereo has no right to any of the programs that it offers through its subscription-only Internet service scheduled to start March 14.
Aereo, based in Long Island City, N.Y., is backed in part by Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp. The company lets its subscribers access network television broadcasts and local stations on Web-enabled devices with a remote antenna and digital video recorder.
“Although
other distributors, including cable and satellite operators and telephone companies, pay to retransmit the same programming, Aereo’s business is based on circumventing the carefully balanced distribution system mandated by Congress,” the networks said. “That is infringement.”
The networks seek a court order blocking Aereo’s service as well as unspecified damages.
Aereo’s membership fee is $12 a month.
“Aereo does not believe that the broadcasters’ position has any merit and it very much looks forward to a full and fair airing of the issues,” Mike Schroeder, a company spokesman, said in an e mailed statement. “Consumers are legally entitled to access broadcast television via an antenna and they are entitled to record
television content for their personal use.”
