On Wednesday, June 25, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling stated that the Internet startup Aereo is illegal in its current form. While the Washington film community may or may not be familiar with Aereo, the ruling has noteworthy implications for the future of distribution. As a champion of groundbreaking digital entertainment platforms, Washington Filmworks is directly engaged with new forms of storytelling and distribution through our Innovation Lab. The Lab invests in the local creative economy and encourages the development of original storytelling that capitalizes on new forms of production and technology. As our local film community considers new forms of distribution, keep Aereo’s distribution model on the back burner.
It’s not everyday that we see the Supreme Court ruling on cases that affect how distribution is carried out.
In a nutshell, Sarah Gray from salon.com summarizes the ruling as follows: the ruling states that Aereo infringes on television broadcasters’ copyrights by using antennas to pick up broadcast network television, storing it in the cloud, and transfering it to subscribers via the Internet. Read more about what Gray has to say about the Supreme Court Justices’ ruling on Aereo’s legality and the somewhat hazy line that separates Aereo from other cloud-based and streaming/sharing services.
Photo Credit: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Decoding the Supreme Court’s Aereo Decision: The Future Looks Hazy for Cloud Computing
June 25, 2014
In a decisive 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court stated that Internet startup Aereo is illegal in its current form. The service uses dime-sized antennas to pick up broadcast network television, store it in the cloud and then transfer it to subscribers via the Internet.
Broadcasters, who were not being paid licensing fees by Aereo, were naturally irked by the new company’s business model. Eventually, the dispute made its way to the Supreme Court. Arguments in American Broadcasting Company (ABC) v. Aereo were heard in April.
In layman’s terms, the ruling states that Aereo infringes television broadcasters’ copyrights. (Extensive background on the case can be found here.) The justices found that Aereo looked too similar to cable.
The decision looks pretty cut and dry for Aereo. However, what does this mean for other cloud-based technology? Full article continued here.