SCOTUS Rules Against TV Streamer

Via Business Insider:

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that had ruled in favor of Aereo, a service that lets you stream live network TV. The court found that Aereo service violated copyrights owned by TV broadcasters, marketers, and distributors whose programs the company streamed. "This ruling appears sweeping and definitive, determining that Aereo is illegal," the lawyer Tom Goldstein wrote on SCOTUSBlog. The case will have lasting implications for the way content is delivered online. Aereo's technology uses special HD antennas that are about the size of a thumbnail to pull in broadcast TV from the airwaves. The signal is then transferred over the internet to your device. Copyright law generally allows you to seek permission before broadcasting a public performance. In arguing that its service was legal, Aereo said the TV broadcasts counted as private performances because they were broadcast through individual antennas into people's homes. The Supreme Court did not buy that argument.

The big winners here, of course, are the cable companies.