Aereo

Amazon pushes Kindles for classrooms

Wednesday's CNET Update is syncing your reading assignment:

Amazon has launched a way for teachers to easily push out reading assignments through a Kindle. Today's tech news roundup looks at Whispercast, which allows organizations to manage books and documents synced to a group of Kindle accounts. Everyone the group doesn't need to own a Kindle, but they do need a device with a Kindle app. Classrooms can also order Kindles with custom profiles that block Web browsing or disable purchasing.

In other news, Best Buy is joining retailers like Barnes & Noble and Toys "R" … Read more

Aereo TV streaming expands to major Web browsers

Watching live TV on your computer just got a lot easier.

New York-based startup Aereo today said its service has been expanded to all major Web browsers, including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Previously, its service was limited to Apple devices and Roku's Internet-connected boxes.

"The vast majority of American households own laptop or desktop computers -- it's only natural that we expand the universe of Internet browsers that can access Aereo," Chief Executive Chet Kanojia said in a press release. "More flexibility, more choice, and more devices mean a better overall … Read more

Cablevision to Aereo: Don't compare your case to ours

Cablevision, a cable company that might have been a natural ally to Aereo, has instead come out against the fledgling Internet TV service.

Cablevision, the country's eighth largest cable provider, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court in New York on Friday and told the court that the landmark legal ruling it won in 2008 shouldn't protect Aereo from the charges of copyright violation brought against it by a group of some of the nation's biggest TV broadcasters.

Aereo is the Barry Diller-backed Web video service that uses dime-size TV antennas to capture over-the-air … Read more

Fox sues upstart TV streaming service BarryDriller.com

Fox has filed a lawsuit against another TV streaming service, alleging that BarryDriller.com is violating its copyrights by retransmitting the programming of one if its affiliates.

The network filed a lawsuit against the upstart service Friday in Los Angeles, claiming BarryDriller.com violates its right of public performance by streaming the signal of L.A. affiliate KTTV to BarryDriller.com subscribers without authorization, according to a Variety report. The site, which just launched this week, streams New York channel programming, as well as that of KTTV-DT, to subscribers for $5.95 a month.

"No amount of technological gimmickry … Read more

Aereo unveils new pricing plans, offers free hour of streaming per day

Aereo survived its early legal battles and now it's taking on the arguably tougher challenge: building its subscriber base.

The company announced a new pricing structure for its streaming over-the-air TV service, adding more subscription options to the original $12/month plan. There's now an $8/month option, which offers all of the same Aereo functionality, except you only get 20 hours of DVR storage, rather than the standard 40 hours. Aereo is also offering a discounted annual option for $80/year, which works out to $6.67/month for full Aereo functionality.… Read more

Aereo's founder has broadcast TV in a headlock--now what? (Q&A)

NEW YORK--Broadcast TV is the last frontier for Web video, and Aereo founder Chet Kanojia has just stuck a tiny antenna into the virgin turf to claim it for himself.

Last week, a federal district court denied a request for a preliminary injunction against Aereo that was sought by two groups of TV broadcasters. The injunction would have required Aereo, a Web TV service, to halt operations. In their lawsuits, broadcasters such as NBC, Fox, ABC and CBS (parent company of CNET) accuse Aereo of ripping off their programming without compensating them.

Aereo says consumers are the ones accessing this … Read more

Barry Diller predicts major Aereo expansion by 2013

Fresh from a legal victory against the TV networks, controversial streaming service Aereo expects to expand beyond New York to other large U.S. cities, Aereo backer and billionaire Barry Diller said today.

"We're going to really start marketing," Diller said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the Allen & Co. annual retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho. "Within a year and a half, certainly by '13, we'll be in most major [markets]."

For $12 a month, the streaming service allows subscribers to receive and record programs on any Internet-connected device over a dime-size antenna. … Read more

Aereo survives networks' bid to block program rebroadcasts

A federal judge has denied a request by the major TV networks to prevent Aereo, the streaming service backed by Barry Diller, from rebroadcasting their programs over the Internet.

Judge Alison Nathan for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected a requested preliminary injunction today, according to a Reuters report. Nathan said that while both sides had demonstrated possible harm in the situation, the "balance of hardships" did not "decidedly" tip to broadcasters' favor.

For $12 a month, the streaming service allows subscribers to receive and record programs on any … Read more

A bet that Diller-backed Aereo TV startup wins its day in court

commentary I don't expect the presiding judge in the Aereo case to issue a preliminary injunction against the service.

On Thursday, at the conclusion of a two-day hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan still sounded skeptical of many of the arguments made by the TV broadcasters who have accused Aereo of copyright violations in two separate lawsuits.

The broadcasters have asked the court to force Aereo to stop distributing their programming immediately. If Nathan denies the broadcasters' request, the case isn't over. It just means Aereo can continue operating at least until a final judgment is … Read more