Forecast for Bamboom Labs: cloudy with a chance of litigation

Yet another start-up, attracted by the glamour and riches of putting television on the Internet and cutting out the pay TV middleman, has developed the technology (but perhaps not the legal team) to jump in and start running a local TV delivery service.

With a name that sounds like something from Batman, Bamboom Labs promises to destroy weak off-air broadcast reception by placing "arrays of thumb-sized antennas, one per subscriber" in locally advantageous reception areas, the Washington Post reported. For $10 a month subscribers can then connect via high-speed Internet and receive, besides the off-air signals, DVR capability.

While somewhat unique--especially the thumb-sized antennas--Bamboom's concept faces the same major roadblocks of every other over-the-top wannabe: Broadcasters are touchy about who can receive and retransmit their signals. The service doesn't include cable channels per se, although it does have Netflix access. And, if subscribers want to pay to get local TV signals, they can always subscribe to cable.

For more:
- the Washington Post has this story

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