In a series of court filings this week, broadcasters argued that the streaming TV service Aereo, currently available only in New York, would cause an end to the TV industry as we know it.
In a declaration filed in a New York federal court, Matt Bond, EVP of content distribution at NBCUniversal, said, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that if Aereo is successful in fending off lawsuits from broadcasters and is able to proceed with its service, the economics of TV distribution would be changed forever.
“It makes little economic sense for cable systems and satellite broadcasters to continue to pay for NBCU content on a per-subscriber basis when, with a relatively modest investment, they can simply modify their operations to mirror Aereo’s ‘individual antenna’ scheme and retransmit, for free, over-the-air local broadcast programming,” Bond said.
“I know for a fact that cable companies have already considered such a model,” he added.
According to THR, broadcasters argued that the presence of Aereo in the marketplace would, among other things, make carriage negotiations with cable providers even more contentious and drive down the now-lucrative deals to broadcast live sports.
NBCUniversal and other major broadcasters are seeking a preliminary injunction against Aereo while the parties battle it out in court.
Here’s a video introduction to Aereo’s streaming TV service…
[THR]