Latest on Aereo Case
Very soon a decision will be handed down that will decide the fate of television as you know it. Although Barry Diller and his co-horts at aereo won't admit it, the company is more about forcing change than making money. As you'll read at the end of Greg's article; the opposition to Aereo is claiming that if left alone Aereo's service will kill "free" television. This is the most misleading statement ever. What he really should say is that it will kill cable television. If aereo can deliver the same content as cable without paying for it the business model of cable collapses. The cable companies will loose subscribers in droves as aereo expands to other markets and won't be able to pay as much for content from the providers (CBS, ABC, NBC...). To preserve revenue these content providers will have to do what the cable companies have been holding them back from doing; sell there content directly to consumers over the internet. Advertisers will follow the content providers and some of the biggest advertising cash cows in television (reality shows, American idol and pro sports) will be free but instead live streamed from FOX or NBC directly. This outcome is what the cable companies fear since it is a future where they are reduced to mere conduits for data. This future is nothing if but a huge win for consumers in that all the possibilities of TV will become available to anyone with an internet connection. Consumers will then get to select what connect to pay for and what to watch with adds. The first wall that will break is HBO. They are poised to do it today with their HBOGO service.The aereo court case is about way more than a round about way to not pay for cable. It's is a landmark decision that has the potential to usher in a new era of content delivery that is long overdue. It's the "boss stage" of a game that has taken almost 2 decades to beat. It started with the music industry and mp3s (music stores died off in the process). More recently the same happened to books with the kindle (books stores died). If aereo is allowed to continue to operate it will mark the start of the grand finale. In the end aereo won't last either way. If cable collapses and the content producers make their content available online it will render aereo unnecessary. However, letting it persist now will have the most profound and necessary effect on the industry since broadcasting was conceived.
