Aereo Launching In Detroit Oct. 28

Fresh off its latest court victory and with
backer Barry Diller a newly-minted Giant of Broadcasting, Aereo announced Friday that
it will launch in Detroit Oct. 28.

Nine counties in the
state will have access to Aereo's online over the air TV service and DVR
functionality on computers and a host of mobile devices, including the
just-announced Android availability.

Aereo is currently
available in seven markets, not counting Detroit, with plans to
expand to over a dozen more in the coming months.

Broadcasters have
sued Aereo for alleged copyright violations--it does not compensate
broadcasters--while Aereo says it is just providing remote, private, access to
free TV signals.

A Massachusetts Federal
district court this week joined a similar New York court and the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals in refusing to enjoin Aereo from operating the
service while those and other district courts adjudicate the underlying case in
various broadcaster challenges.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.