Controversial television redistributor Aereo is currently operating with the blessings of the Second Circuit Court while a lower-court challenge to the legality of its service is being tested – and it has now officially expanded that operation to Houston, with Dallas-Fort Worth soon to follow.
The service captures local broadcast television signals off-air and sells the program streams via broadband to subscribers.
Broadcasters are charging that the service is using their programming without permission and that it should be paying a fee for retransmission. Aereo counters that it procures the signals will antennas directly off-air the way anybody might and is therefore not liable for any fees.
Broadcasters lost an attempt to stop the service while the current court case is pending, but have been buoyed by a decision in another court – the District of Columbia Circuit — barring FilmOn X from operating a similar service thoughtout the US except for states under the jurisdiction of the Second Circuit.
Aereo’s availability map on its website lists Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington DC, Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Birmingham, Detroin, Cleveland, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City, Austin, Denver and Salt Lake City as its areas of operation in addition to Houston and Dallas.
