Broadcasters Don't Own the Airwaves

[Commentary] On April 22, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could alter the way Americans have used and benefited from broadcast airwaves since the dawn of radio and television.

The case, American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo, aims to shut down the startup Aereo's two-year-old video streaming service and claim ownership of the airwaves as the sole right of broadcasters. This, quite simply, goes against everything the broadcast industry has agreed to over the past 100 years. When radio and television entered American life in the 1920s, the government made a bargain with the nation's broadcasters: They would receive free use of the nation's airwaves in exchange for providing free, advertising-supported programming in return. The deal has paid off handsomely for both broadcasters and citizens. Then, two years ago, a little company I've invested in called Aereo came up with an idea: Why not harness the power of modern technology and the Internet to build a smarter, more versatile antenna that would make programming accessible to consumers on the device of their choice. It has done just that. An "antenna in the cloud" records broadcast signals and sends them to users over the Web for viewing then or later on various devices. This has made an old analog technology relevant again, available to customers for only $8 a month. It's not a piracy trick, as broadcasters have alleged, but a genuine innovation that consumers should be able to choose. Yet broadcasters claim Aereo is "stealing" their content. Why is the industry pushing to punish those who wish to receive their television through airwaves, which are not owned by broadcasters? The answer is obvious: Broadcasters make more money when consumers are steered away from over-the-air program delivery and toward cable and satellite systems that pay the broadcasters retransmission fees.

It is unfortunate that the broadcasters and the Administration have aligned themselves against competition, choice and the consumer. The Supreme Court should set them straight.

[Diller is chairman of IAC and Expedia-IAC. IAC has a minority interest in Aereo.]