In the process of slowly rolling out a flurry of ground-shifting decisions before adjourning at the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court notably did not rule Monday on the case of Aereo vs. the major broadcast networks and sports leagues.
However, the High Court added sessions on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, with an influential ruling on the Aereo matter now possibly coming on the last day for which it can be announced, Monday, June 30.
As media watchers refresh Scotusblog.com for the latest U.S. Supreme Court news, several analysts have counter-intuitively predicted that Aereo will receive a favorable ruling.
Notably, BTIG Research media technology analyst Richard Greenfield blogged last week, "We believe Aereo will prevail in its Supreme Court battle with broadcasters based on our interpretation of copyright law, the Sony Betamax decision in 1984 and the Cablevision Remote Storage (RS) DVR decision in 2009."
While Greenfield seems to be in the minority in terms of predicting an Aereo win, other influential media tech analysts, such as The Envisioneering Group's Richard Doherty, agree with him that the decision will likely involve a narrow 5-4 vote.
"Despite our confidence in a decisive Aereo victory, it is always important to remember that media copyright cases are difficult, with the landmark Sony Betamax decision being decided 5-4 after 'two' sets of oral arguments," Greenfield adds.
For more:
- read this Scotusblog.com post
- read this BTIG Research blog post
- read this Multichannel News story
Related links:
Win or lose, Aereo's impact could change OTT market
Kanojia, Aereo remain optimistic it will win in SCOTUS
Odds of Aereo prevailing about 30 percent, analyst says