Aereo is taking its own brand of live TV streaming to Boston, Massachusetts. The team announced on Tuesday that the program would become available to more than 4.5 million Boston area residents in May 2013.
Aereo providers a cloud-based DVR service to customers who wish to watch broadcast television. Users simply choose shows they want to watch from CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, and other stations and then watch them from their mobile and desktop devices.
Aereo TV launched in New York City and was soon faced with lawsuits from broadcast providers who questioned the legality of the program. Aereo recently won a lawsuit against the National Association of Broadcasters, a lawsuit that is now facing the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Aereo service will send out invites on May 15th to pre-registration customers who qualify for the service. Aereo will go live on May 30.
Once the service launches customers will be able to watch programming from 28 over-the-air broadcast channels. Aereo currently works with iOS devices, Apple TV, Roku boxes, and desktop browsers.
Aereo recently announced plans to expand into 23 major metropolitan areas including Austin, Salt Lake City, Miami, Chicago, and others.
In a public statement CEO and founder Chet Kanojia said:
“Consumers deserve more choice and flexibility in how they experience television and Aereo provides them a high-quality, rationally-priced alternative.”
In response to the Aereo platform and its lack of broadcast licensing both Fox and CBS have threatened to pull their content from over-the-air broadcasting . Fox and CBS in turn would move over to cable-only services for their content.
Broadcast networks claim they are losing revenue because of the Aereo live TV streaming platform. CBS and Fox have not revealed many details about their loss of revenue.
Will you be switching over to Aereo when it launches in your neck of the woods?
