Aereo suspending operations as of 11:30 today

[M.Casey]

Other than the DVR feature, I just can't see much of a reason for Aereo in 
the first place. But, maybe the DVR was really the main selling point. And 
yes--Aereo only provided the few basic channels that had a transmitter very 
near the center of the market. Their tiny antennas worked. Try it yourself 
sometime--stick a 1-2" piece of wire in the center receptacle of the F 
antenna input on the back of the TV and see how many channels you get. You 
will be amazed. In probably over 95% of Aereo's coverage area, a viewer 
could buy a $5 set of rabbit ears (20 times the size of the Aereo antennas) 
and get all or in many cases, even more channels than Aereo offered. Even if 
one had enabled some type of video cloud feed to his or her phone--still, I 
can't imagine that folks watching broadcast channels on their phones are 
going to be any significant chunk of actual viewing, with even the largest 
phones having a tiny screen--to the dismay of some current TV ads--the 
phones are really unwatchable-- but rather just a toy, or at the most , 
maybe just barely sufficing to be another place to get the news and weather.

--Hey, here's an idea--why not just listen to a radio for news and 
weather--no phone fees, no service provider needed--and, other than the cost 
of the radio and the batteries, it's free---what an idea!-ha!

So, now, we've really simplified LIFE. Forget Aereo ever existed. Just get a 
$5 pair of rabbit ears for your TV, and a $20 radio and you will be happy 
for years and years!

Mark Casey
K1MAP

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike Ward
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 10:24 AM
To: Bob DeMattia
Cc: Boston Radio Interest Mailing List
Subject: Re: Aereo suspending operations as of 11:30 today

As I recall, the Aereo lineup didn't include such outlying stations...just
those in the heart of the market.

We have an independent station here in the far southwest part of the market
(Mansfield OH) that actually is on direcTV and Dish. But they ship their
signal up to the Cleveland satellite receive facilities via an
Internet-connected box. You can't really get their signal in the main part
of the market.

If Aereo had ever launched here, I'm pretty sure WMFD wouldn't be on the
list. I don't know where to find the Boston Aereo lineup, but I bet
stations like WBIN weren't on it.


On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 9:09 AM, Bob DeMattia <bob.bosra@demattia.net>
wrote:

> I've always had difficulty believing that a "dime sized" antenna would be
> able to effectivelyreceive multiple channels.  If they were carrying the
> complete Boston market, that would mean receiving signals from Boston,
> Needham, Marlborough, Boylston, Merrimack NH,Hudson NH, and Manchester NH
> with sufficient strength and without any multipath issues.The whole thing
> is troubling.
> You can agree or disagree about what the law should be, but it is what it
> is right now.  I think the justices got this one right.
>
> -Bob 



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