Aereo has pledged to fight on after its landmark Supreme Court defeat in late June, seeking to reclassify itself as a pay-TV operator and obtain a statutory license to retransmit broadcast TV signals.
As for the company's primary investor, Barry Diller, it looks like he's done. As first reported by Re/code, the company Diller oversees, digital media conglomerate IAC Corp., filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that IAC is taking a write-down of $66.6 million.
IAC didn't specify how much of this write-down is attributed to Aereo. But during IAC's second-quarter earnings report conference call Wednesday, July 30, company CFO Jeff Kip said Aereo's charge was the largest among the five companies the write-down involved.
Diller certainly seemed resigned to Aereo's end on June 26, the day the SCOTUS verdict was announced, telling CNBC, "It's not a big [financial] loss for us, but I do believe blocking this technology is a big loss for consumers, and beyond that I only salute [Aereo founder and CEO] Chet Kanojia and his band of Aereo'lers for fighting the good fight. We did try, but it's over now."
For more:
- read this Re/code story
Related links:
More Aereo aftermath: ACA 'disappointed' by ruling, Diller says 'it's over'
Copyright Office says Aereo isn't cable but will provisionally accept its filing anyway
Aereo reinvents itself as 'cable company,' seeks retransmission license