What do you think of this business idea?

Aereo Shines With Limited Live TV on the Go

The idea here that many people would be happy with the over the air broadcast networks in a given region. In addition to ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX most media markets have CW/PBS/ION/MyTV and Telemundo or Univision and the Foxmundo in Spanish. In addition they want to watch TV on their media devices (IPads, Smart phones, Laptops, etc). They also like the TIVO capabilities of pausing live TV, and recording some shows.

Also, people really want to watch live TV, and not download yesterdays shows from the individual websites (or hulu).

What this start up is offering is your own miniature antenna (1/2" tall) that secures the broadcast signal, and then wires the signal to the internet where you can pick it up with an access code and specialized software. The broadcasters are crying foul since it seems as if the signal is being stolen and they can't resell it to cable companies or even get credit for Nielson ratings. But a judge has declared that what they are doing is legal because they are basically renting an miniature antenna and the internet service for $12 a month.

The advantage is to end the steep CaTV bills and replace them with the more affordable options (i.e. $12 a month for this service + $12 a month for Netflix ).

The company intends to role out this service nationwide by next year. This year it is being test marketed in NYC.

Naysaysers say there is no market for this service. Most people want CaTV no matter what the cost. The antenna fans have already invested in equipment. Although clearly the stations could put their own signal on the internet, they are reluctant to change their substantial revenue stream from their partnership with CaTV. Fcc regulations are an issue, because you don't want ABC in New York to overlap ABC in Philadelphia.

I see a place for this in places like airports where you would want to "rent TV" for a few hours at a time, similar to how some airports used to (and may still do) have actual "pay TVs". Other than that, I don't see much of a market for it; I assume the 1/2" antenna is so you can travel with it (what use is a 1/2" antenna if you're just going to use it at home?), but then why would you want to use it on a regular basis?

I've known people who've had and used these things. My job has me travelling half the year, so I spent a long time looking for alternatives to paying for cable or satellite service that I'm not going to be using for months at a time. I've been getting all my TV from the Internet since mid-2009 and haven't looked back. Awesome being able to watch TV from any country you want, especially if you're going to be visiting a foreign country and want to get a look at the culture.

Quote: ThatDonGuy

I see a place for this in places like airports where you would want to "rent TV" for a few hours at a time, similar to how some airports used to (and may still do) have actual "pay TVs". Other than that, I don't see much of a market for it; I assume the 1/2" antenna is so you can travel with it (what use is a 1/2" antenna if you're just going to use it at home?), but then why would you want to use it on a regular basis?

The 1/2 inch antenna is on a circuit board at a facility run by the company. You don't see it. The company assigns each person an "antenna" so that legally it is pulling the signal from "over the air" from the broadcasters. They are just transmitting the signal via the internet so that you can see it.

Antennas on a circuit board


The "antenna" is a kind of legal fiction to show that the company is not stealing the signal. They are capturing a publicly available signal and repackaging it.

The advantage is primarily cost. Although most of these signals are required by the Fcc to be transmitted over cable TV, they do so at great expense by bundling them with other channels like A&E, TNT,c. TBS, Comedy Channel, etc. This technology allows you to watch live streaming network TV on your home computer, TV with a Roku box, and gives you some TIVO like capabilities for about $12 per month. A normal CaTV package is 5 to 6 times that price and TIVO or DVR capabilities are extra.

Over-the-Air TV Homes Now Include 46 Million Consumers
New York, NY; June 6, 2011: According to new research by Knowledge Networks, the number of Americans now relying exclusively on over-the-air (OTA) television broadcasting in their home increased to almost 46 million, up from 42 million just a year ago.

The recently completed survey also found that the demographics of broadcast-only households skew towards younger adults, minorities and lower-income families.

Ya know, if you could hack the sattelite codes, that antenna thingy would work... just scan the bands. Radio, TV, links, etc. iTV in a nutshell.

Quote: heather

I've been getting all my TV from the Internet since mid-2009 and haven't looked back. Awesome being able to watch TV from any country you want, especially if you're going to be visiting a foreign country and want to get a look at the culture.

But the ability to live stream TV is still pretty limited. One could argue that it is not that important to some people, but a lot of people like to see a show the first time it is aired.

I think that most people want more. In NYC a 25 Mbs internet is $35/month. For $80/month you get all the NYC broadcast channels, plus the normal cable channels. Now some people will pay the $35/month and buy this antenna service for $12/month to get just broadcast channels on the internet, but many people have favorite cable channels, and they don't want to wait to see them on hulu.

If people only cared about price, everyone would have bought a Magic Jack for their home telephone service.

Quote: pacomartin

If people only cared about price, everyone would have bought a Magic Jack for their home telephone service.

But Skype was cheaper. I spent like twenty minutes trying to talk a recent immigrant to the US that he should go with Skype or another VOIP service over Magic Jack. I don't think I convinced him on it, though.

Quote: heather

But Skype was cheaper. I spent like twenty minutes trying to talk a recent immigrant to the US that he should go with Skype or another VOIP service over Magic Jack. I don't think I convinced him on it, though.

I see that Magic Jack has a link directly to the router, so the power to your computer doesn't have to be on. Plain Old Telephone Service had a narrow 3.5 octave band. In theory a larger bandwidth should give you better sound, but I feel like I hear a lot of painful high frequency sounds that I didn't use to hear. It's possible that more and more people are talking to you from a moving car or from a speaker phone. It may not be the fault of the phone.

But in general many people like flipping through channels. They don't want to hunt things down on different websites. They also want to see things the first minute they are aired.