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Aereo gets set for Atlanta debut

In June, the capital of Georgia will be the third city to get the TV streaming service, following New York and, from this Wednesday, Boston.

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
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  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
Jon Skillings
2 min read
Aereo antennea
Aereo's little antenna has led to a big brouhaha with television networks. Aereo

Aereo is on a roll, with plans now to bring its streaming TV service to Atlanta.

The Atlanta launch is scheduled for June 17, the company announced Tuesday. The capital of Georgia will be the third city to get the Aereo service, following New York and, from Wednesday of this week, Boston.

The news of the launch comes a day after Aereo reset its pricing structure. Starting Wednesday, consumers can pay $8 per month to get a base membership plan to use Aereo's cloud-based antenna/DVR technology, receiving 20 hours of DVR storage in the bargain. For $12 a month, they can upgrade to 60 hours of DVR storage.

The restructuring also does away with long-term commitments and with annual and daily offerings.

New York was the first city to get the Aereo service, which arrived in 2012. The company said in January that it plans to expand to 22 cities across the U.S. this year.

Aereo's antenna/DVR technology lets users can watch live, local over-the-air television broadcasts on some Internet-connected devices, including the iPad, iPhone, and Roku players. That capability has provoked lawsuits from TV broadcast giants including ABC, CBS (CNET's parent company), Fox, NBC Universal, and Telemundo, which alleged last year that the service violates their copyrights and that Aereo must pay them retransmission fees.

So far, court rulings have tended to favor Aereo, blocking preliminary injunctions against the service. Earlier this month, Aereo filed a complaint against CBS, seeking to prevent the broadcaster from filing yet another lawsuit against it.