Bring It On – Aereo Says It’ll Fight Broadcasters In Supreme Court
Just more than two months to the day after broadcasters petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a denied injunction against the Barry Diller-backed streaming service, Aereo today responded with an unexpected battle cry of “bring it on”. “We have decided to not oppose the broadcasters’ petition for certiorari before the United States Supreme Court. While the law is clear and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and two different federal courts have ruled in favor of Aereo, broadcasters appear determined to keep litigating the same issues against Aereo in every jurisdiction that we enter”, said Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia today as the company filed a brief (read it here) with the Court. “We want this resolved on the merits rather than through a wasteful war of attrition”. Since Aereo’s 2011 launch, broadcasters have insisted in various jurisdictions and legal actions that the company is breaking the law by transmitting their shows to its Internet subscribers without paying a license fee. Today’s 31-page response and lack of objection to the broadcaster’s petition now raises the stakes to a winner-take-all proposition.
