Fox, ABC, NBC and Allbritton Communications have filed suit against Film On's Aereokiller TV station streaming service in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Allbritton owns ABC affiliate WJLA-TV there).
They want a jury trial and, in the meantime, a temporary injunction.
"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 statement.
They point out that a California court last December enjoined Aereokiller from operating in nine Western states after concluding it violated the law. (http://www.multichannel.com/ott/judge-orders-aereokiller-stop-streaming-...). The court concluded that the service was an illegal transmission without copyright compensation.
"We believe that the DC court will uphold our copyright interests and further restrict Aereokiller's operations," they said.
"Defendants are providing this commercial service, which features Plaintiffs' copyrighted television programming, without the authorization of any of the affected stations or copyright owners," the complaint says.
The plaintiffs brought the action in the D.C. court after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals declined to enjoin Aereo from delivering its TV station streaming service. Aereokiller provides online video subs access to TV stations via remote off-air antennas and DVRs, similar to the Barry Diller backed Aereo service from former top Fox exec Barry Diller.
The California court did not apply its injunction to the nine Western states not covered by the Ninth Circuit after the New york district court and Second Circuit Court of Appeals declined to enjoin Aereo and suggested it was not a performance in violation of violate copyright.
