FOX Says It'll Leave Network TV If Aereo's Streaming Service Survives

If you aren't familiar with Aereo, here's the highlight: it's a service that allows users to stream live over-the-air TV networks through the Internet, anywhere in the world. As of right now, the service is limited to the New England area, but it plans to spread as fast as possible. It's also wrapped up in all sorts of legal trouble, as the TV networks (CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX) want the whole thing shut down. Evidently, there's lost revenue when networks aren't watched through conventional means (pay-TV or antennas), and instead of learning to adapt to the Internet, they're just trying to blockade progress.


The real issue is that Aereo doesn't pay transmission fees to the networks; it just takes content that's already being transmitted, and then funnels it over the Internet. FOX's COO Chase Carey has come out swinging, stating that his network would consider going off of the network air (and instead broadcasting as a pay-TV cable channel like ESPN) if Aereo's services end up being okayed by the courts.

Of course, that decision is a long ways from being made, but it's a curious thing to come out and say. It's also highly unlikely that he's being truthful. Due to free access via antennas, network channels receive millions more viewers than your average cable channel. Changing that access would have huge impact on FOX's advertisers, and they'd be none too pleased to hear that it lost millions of viewers due to a squabbel with an Internet start-up company.