Broadcasters Ask Supreme Court to Intervene Over Aereo

Major TV broadcasters petitioned the Supreme Court over Aereo, a streaming-video startup backed by media mogul Barry Diller.

The broadcasters argue that Aereo, which streams local TV signals over the Web without their permission, violates their copyrights. The broadcasters, that include Walt Disney 's ABC, Comcast’s NBC, CBS and 21st Century Fox, are appealing a ruling earlier this year by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied their request to shut down the fee-based service. The circuit court's decision "is already transforming the industry and threatening the very fundamentals of broadcast television," the broadcasters wrote in the petition. "We will respond, as appropriate, in due course," an Aereo spokeswoman said. "The longer Aereo is left unchecked, the more it can roll out its service," said David Wittenstein, head of the media and information technology practice at law firm Dow Lohnes. "If Aereo gets a lot of customers in a lot of places, it begins to be harder to shut it down." Cablevision said the petition is a "brazen attempt … to go after the legal underpinning of all cloud-based services," which amounts to a "willful attempt to stifle innovation." "If Aereo ends up prevailing, it will serve the broadcasters right," the company said.