Judge Won't Let Aereo Stream In Real Time, But Allows Remote DVR

US District Court Judge Alison Nathan barred Aereo from streaming over-the-air TV shows in real time to subscribers' smartphones and tablets, but cleared the way for the company to resume offering its remote DVR service. The order marks the latest turn in a two-year battle over the online service.

Judge Nathan ruled that the Supreme Court ruling didn't transform Aereo into a cable company -- even though the court said the company resembles one. “The Supreme Court ... did not imply, much less hold, that simply because an entity performs publicly in much the same way as a CA V system, it is necessarily a cable system,” she wrote. But she declined to block Aereo's DVR service. Instead, she issued the broadcasters the narrower order they requested in 2012, when the case first appeared in court. “Plaintiffs will be held to their earlier decision, strategic or otherwise, to seek a preliminary injunction limited in scope to enjoining retransmission of their copyrighted works while the works are still being broadcast,” she wrote.