Aereo Expands to San Antonio Despite Big Lawsuits
Streaming provider Aereo names San Antonio as next target, will be in twelve cities by the end of the month.
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Aereo announced today that San Antonio will soon be joining its coverage area, which includes New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Salt Lake City, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Denver. This expansion, which makes for 12 locales total, will take place later this month on February 19th.
Aereo is a controversial startup that allows users to stream local TV content for a monthly fee. According to Chief Executive Chet Kanojia, Aereo recently reached member capacity within its launch city of NYC, necessitating expansion even amidst legal battles involving various broadcasters—including CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox.
To avoid serious copyright entanglement, Aereo operates by allocating a single broadcast antenna and an individual DVR service to each member. While this workaround helps the company avoid full legal roadblocks, it also increases the bandwidth cost and carrying capacity of the service as a whole, demanding expansions to US cities as opposed to capacity upgrades within previously established locations.