Cable Companies Looking To Follow Aereo Streaming Model

Cable companies paying high retransmission fees are said to be looking at adopting an Aereo style service, that will let them distribute free to air TV, and save millions of bucks. The problem? The TV networks will not take it lying down.

A report by Bloomberg says that some of the major cable TV providers are looking into the possibility of using an Aereo style streaming service in a bid to save cash.

Companies in the frame include Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Charter Communications who are looking into the feasibility of such a project, although Aereo still have a fight on their hands before they can class themselves as an established service.

What the Aereo service does for an $8 monthly cost, is to give users online access to free to air broadcast TV. But the TV networks are calling it illegal infringement, and are all mounting legal cases against the service. CBS, Fox and others are in the process of prosecuting Aereo as the launch around the US.

Aereo have so far seen some success in their battles even though the enemy is all powerful, and if they continue then the cable companies may attempt to copy them and avoid paying the networks.

Time Warner Cable CEO, Glen Britt has said that Aereo’s ‘interesting’ concept that has created a ‘preliminary’ intrigue at his company, and is one they may copy. He said, “What Aereo is doing to bring broadcast signals to its customers is interesting. If it is found legal, we could conceivably use similar technology.”

So strong is the desire from the cable company that the Bloomberg report says that Time Warner have even looked at buying Aereo out. In response to these kind of threats, the FTA networks are threatening to take TV off the airwaves and make them a cable only service

TV network executives from the big four, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX see Aereo as a major to their business model, and have threatened to move exclusively to cable. The News Corp (who own Fox) Chief Operating Officer, Chase Carey said back in April about going it alone, “This is not an ideal path we look to pursue, but we can’t sit idly by and let an entity steal our signal. We believe Aereo is pirating our broadcast signal. We will continue to aggressively pursue our rights in the courts, as well as pursue all relevant political avenues, and we believe we will prevail.”

In the meantime Aereo go from strength to strength. They launched in Detroit on October 18, and just this week they launched an android streaming TV app.