Broadcasters take aim at Aereo

Aereo, which is scheduled to roll out its new online TV service, said late on Thursday that a group of broadcasters have filed two separate federal lawsuits against the company, citing likely violation of copyright laws, Reuters reports.

Aereo said in a blog post the broadcasters have maintained that the company will infringe their copyrights by enabling consumers to access broadcast television via a remote antenna and digital video recorder.

According to PC Mag, Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Television, Univision, PBS, and two local New York TV stations filed suit against Aereo in a New York district court, charging the start-up with copyright violations due to unauthorised rebroadcast and reproductions, as well as unfair competition.

A second suit was filed later in the day against Aereo, by ABC, Disney, CBS, NBCUniversal, Universal Network Television, and Telemundo, charging Aereo with one count of copyright infringement. The suits were filed before Aereo's service begins operating on 14 March. Both seek a permanent injunction preventing Aereo from operating, plus damages.

TV stations have the right under federal law to force satellite and cable TV operators to negotiate for the right to transmit stations' over-the-air signals to customers, The Wall Street Journal writes.

In recent years, pay TV operators have increasingly paid rates of as much as $1 a month per subscriber. Aereo, of New York City, said it did not plan to pay any such fee to the broadcasters.