Internet TV company Aereo continues to expand and is looking to Boston to beef up its engineering staff even as it faces lawsuits across the country from broadcast industry giants.
"Our expectation was there would be a lot of controversy around this, but there was some hope that people would recognize it's a good idea," said Chet Kanojia, Aereo's founder and CEO. "We think we're on to something very big."
Aereo uses over-the-air antennas to capture TV broadcasts and relay the signals over the Internet, letting users watch and record local live programming. Aereo launched its Android app last week and will debut in Detroit tomorrow — the eighth market in its 22-city expansion plan.
"They clearly are getting enough traction that the investors are saying let's expand this nationwide," said Brett Sappington, a media analyst and director of research at Parks Associates in Dallas.
Kanojia said the company plans to add 30 to 40 employees, mostly at its Hub offices on Summer Street. Aereo is headquartered in New York City, but the engineering and software come out of Boston.
"When you're building machines, you kind of have to go where the people that know how to build machines are," Kanojia said.
But as Aereo is expanding, the legal fight over its service is climbing the appellate ladder. A group of broadcasters, including Walt Disney Co., 21st Century Fox Inc., NBC Universal and CBS Corp., have petitioned the Supreme Court to rule on Aereo's legality. Earlier this month, a federal judge refused to shut down Aereo over a copyright claim filed by Hearst-owned WCVB. A trial is scheduled next year.
"When you have these upstart companies that refuse the existing business models, they also ruffle the feathers of the established copyright holders," said Rutgers University law professor Michael Carrier.
At stake is $3 billion in fees that broadcast station owners will receive this year from pay-TV systems to provide signals to subscribers, according to Bloomberg Industries.
"Aereo's business model is based on taking content they don't own and reselling it without compensating the copyright holder," said Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of the National Association of Broadcasters. "We're cautiously optimistic that ultimately the courts will rule in our favor."
Kanojia said he fundamentally disagrees that Aereo is in the business of selling content.
"I think there's a lot of concern or misconception about this company that we are somehow a content company," he said. "It's a pure technology company."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Aereo’s CEO signals more hiring in Hub
Dengan url
http://sedangapasaja.blogspot.com/2013/10/aereoas-ceo-signals-more-hiring-in-hub.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Aereo’s CEO signals more hiring in Hub
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Aereo’s CEO signals more hiring in Hub
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar