Aereo suspending operations as of 11:30 today

[Gary's Ice Cream]

Not really......according to the way an engineer explained Aereo to
me.....each customer has their own slingbox connected to a tv receiver at
the data center.  The customer has the channel changing capability of their
own tuner at the data center so basically it is a remote tuner for your tv.
According to the tech who worked there they don't have one feed per tv
station coming in and it isn't being distributed through a distribution
amplifier to a bunch of boxes.  Each customer has his or her own slingbox (I
am using that as a generic term not as a brand name), their own tuner and
their own antenna.  From the box it goes out to a combined internet
connection onto the web and each customer has their own unique IP address.
Correct me if I am wrong someone.

                    Gary's Ice Cream, Chelmsford, MA
www.garysicecream.com           www.icecreamcollege.com





-----Original Message-----
From: Shawn Mamros [mailto:mamros@MIT.EDU] 
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2014 9:24 PM
To: Gary's Ice Cream
Subject: RE: Aereo suspending operations as of 11:30 today

But how is that different from what cable TV did when it first started?
They pulled in the broadcast signal where the reception was good and sent it
down the cable to their subscribers.  Replace the cable with the Internet,
and it's the same thing.  All the cable companies were doing was renting a
cable connection and a box.  At least that's how I see it.  It's just that
Congress back then decided the broadcasters should get a cut from the pie.
I'm not sure that was the right decision then (or now), but that's the law
that was made.  If Aereo shouldn't have to pay broadcasters for
retransmission, the cable companies shouldn't either.

-Shawn
________________________________________
From: Gary's Ice Cream [gary@garysicecream.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2014 3:01 PM
To: Shawn Mamros
Subject: RE: Aereo suspending operations as of 11:30 today

The way I saw Aereo was that it was no different than someone having a
"SlingBox" at their home and sending the signal to themselves somewhere else
- except that instead of the SLingBox being in their own house it was
located somewhere else where the reception was better....so basically all
Aereo was doing was renting you a box and a location for the box to be
housed with an internet connection for your convienence....they weren't in
the program distribution business, they were in the equipment rental
business.

                    Gary's Ice Cream, Chelmsford, MA
www.garysicecream.com           www.icecreamcollege.com





-----Original Message-----
From: Boston-Radio-Interest
[mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of
Shawn Mamros
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2014 11:50 AM
To: Brian T. Vita; Boston Radio Group
Subject: RE: Aereo suspending operations as of 11:30 today

>I really think that this is a case where big money, ie. the cable 
>companies, wiped out the smaller startup.

Actually, it was mostly the broadcasters who were fighting this one.  The
issue in question is the provision in the Copyright Act of 1976 requiring
cable companies to pay broadcasters for the right to retransmit their
content.  The broadcasters argued that the same provision should apply to
Aereo, and the Court agreed with that assessment.  Honestly, I have a hard
time seeing a logical counterargument to that.

It's probably long past time for the Copyright Act of 1976 to be reevaluated
in light of all of the technology changes in the past four decades.  Good
luck getting today's politicians to do that, though.

-Shawn