Aereo's legal losing streak continues, with a federal appeals court refusing to hear the streaming service's "emergency" argument that it should now be considered a pay-TV service that pays retransmission fees for broadcast network programming.
In documents filed Thursday, Aug. 21, and obtained by the Washington Post, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the case should be decided on the district court level. Aereo is currently litigating against CBS and NBC in the Southern District of New York.
Seeking to bypass a lengthy trial in that Manhattan district court, Aereo filed an appeal with the Second Circuit Court in early August, indicating that it is "bleeding to death" and needs a speedy ruling on its request to receive a statutory broadcast retransmission license. With its filing Thursday, the appeals court essentially responded that it's not the right venue for that argument to be considered.
The decision sustains a steady stream of legal setbacks for Aereo, which had successfully litigated its right to stream the signals of broadcast stations to the IP devices of consumers all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On June 25, the High Court ruled that Aereo violated the copyrights of broadcasters. The privately backed service soon suspended operations and has sought--unsuccessfully so far--to reclassify itself as a cable company entitled to statutory broadcast retransmission licenses.
Aereo has not yet indicated its next move.
For more:
- read this Washington Post story
- read this Second Circuit Court of Appeals filing
Related links:
CBS' Moonves disses Aereo: 'A lot of attention for a service nobody was using'
Barry Diller really is done with Aereo, takes write-down on company
Judge strikes down Aereo's 'emergency' attempt to resume service