At SXSW, Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia spoke about the company’s recent legal troubles and the continued growth and expansion of the service. If you’re not familiar with Aereo, I would definitely recommend you check out our complete review of the service, but in short it’s a standalone TV and DVR service for people who don’t want to pay for a cable subscription. Kanojia did not really discuss the impending Supreme Court case that could drastically impact the future of the company.
It’s a bittersweet day in Austin, Texas, for Aereo. The company’s remote DVR service, which allows users to stream or record over-the-air broadcasts, just launched in the city this week against the backdrop of SXSW, making it Aereo’s fourth market in the state. But there’s a storm cloud hanging over this celebration; a recent legal hiccup with the state of Utah that saw it shut down service in Denver, Colo., and Salt Lake City, Utah. Aereo, however, is no stranger to this courtroom drama. The company’s been engaged in a copyright battle with broadcasters that’ll either cement it as a content licensee (along the lines of a Netflix), and potentially cripple its business growth, or as a provider of cloud DVR storage. It’s a fight Aereo’s waging all the way to the Supreme Court and has so far been winning, except for today.
