Won’t Someone Think of the Cloud Services?

Public Knowledge has been filing briefs in Aereo's lawsuits (and in related cases like Film On) since the beginning, but the beginning was only 2012.

The litigation has made it to the Supreme Court very quickly, and it's going to take some time to digest exactly how the Justices react to the various arguments that are presented (such as the arguments in our joint brief).

But it's worth thinking about what the implications of Aereo might be for various industries, now that the purely legal arguments have all been made. It's hard to believe the broadcasters when they say that Aereo will somehow take away their retransmission fees, and destroy their business model. How did they manage for so long -- from the middle of the 20th Century until just a few years ago -- without those fees? But even more to the point, the idea that Aereo will give cable systems a magic ticket that will enable them to stop paying the fees is a bit far-fetched.

After all, a cable system doesn't just need to carry ABC, but ESPN as well, which is under the same corporate umbrella. An Aereo win might give cable a bit more leverage against broadcast but they're still going to need to pay. T

he dollar totals around different line items might switch around but without much net effect. Instead, the consequence of an Aereo win will likely be more subtle: Aereo (and maybe services like it) that do not offer the complete cable package and are available online will continue growing, making it easier (when combined with content from other services like Amazon Instant Video) for people to "cut the cord" and do without a traditional pay TV subscription at all. Online services will find it easier to offer viewers the more flexible programming choices the marketplace has repeatedly demonstrated they want.