A federal court rejects Aereo’s request to argue it’s a cable company

Aereo's seemingly last-ditch argument to save itself won't be given an airing in court, according to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Instead, if the shuttered streaming video company wants to keep fighting for its survival, procedural reasons require that it do so at the district court level. The decision is a win for broadcasters, who had sought a ban on Aereo from the beginning. Initially, the district court decided against an injunction. But a ruling from the Supreme Court earlier this summer reversed that decision. How significant is this move? Seeing as Aereo had already voluntarily shut its doors after the Supreme Court verdict, a preliminary injunction doesn't mean much for the company operationally. But the Second Circuit is effectively telling Aereo that if it wants to argue that it's a cable company only for the purposes of copyright law — and therefore qualified to pay lower royalties — it's currently making the argument to the wrong people.