The same exact article could be written for AirBnB in the light of recent NYC witch hunts against AirBnB operators. Just because a startup is founded on a legal loophole, does not make it worthy of disdain. Netflix still mails DVDs of movies it does not have the rights to stream. That is also "a legal inconsistency that’s screaming out for a fix." That does not mean Netflix should shutter its DVD rentals.
The very essence of a startup is to have an ingenious solution to a problem people have and might pay for. I had not heard about Aereo but if they expand to Florida, I will most likely sign up for it. Digital reception is horrible in my house, cable companies charge about the same for their most basic (usually hidden) package, and I cannot watch it on my iPad. Moreover, I do not want to string coax cables all over my house.
So for $12/mo, if I can watch live Simpsons or record it for later viewing (which I cannot view on Hulu Plus using my Roku even when I pay!), then I will most certainly pay for it. Hulu Plus is closer to Aereo's competitor, not Netflix. Old episodes of TV shows are available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus. But only Hulu Plus has the new seasons without charging by episode. If I can get new seasons of ABC/CBS/FOX shows to automatically record so I can watch them with my wife (who has a very erratic work schedule), $12/mo is NOTHING.
I have no idea what beef the author has with Aereo but I'm certainly rooting for it. Thanks to the author for telling me about Aereo.
AirBnB and Netflix aren't founded on legal loopholes; they're hindered by them. Hotel owners are trying to kill AirBnB via legal loopholes. Netflix still mails DVDs precisely because there are no legal loopholes. Aereo seems like a much riskier proposition. Even if Aereo wins in court, as the article notes, there's a good chance that the big content providers would just decide to sell the same service for cheaper. (Unlike the author of this article, I'm not sure why this would be bad, though, and I think it's a decent reason to root for Aereo as long as you're not invested in it.)
OTOH, I agree with you that $12/month is not actually all that excessive for the service Aereo wants to offer. I could do the same thing with a DVR and a $20 antenna, but the equipment cost would be about at least the price of a year of Aereo service, and it would require more work on my part to set up and offer poorer quality because of the shitty upload speed on residential connections.
Don't read this article, the world's most stupid article.
I use Aereo. It's convenient for me to be able to record Olympic trials and my favorite shows in high definition to watch whenever I want on my iPad. I gladly pay $12 a month for that.
Maybe there are alternatives, but they're inconvenient enough that I don't use them.
The only valuable part of this article is his point that Aereo redundantly captures shows independently for each viewer. That's not a problem with Aereo though, it's a problem with the law.
I applaud Aereo for being one of the first startups to attempt such a massive feat with a nuanced understanding of the law so that I, as a user, don't have the break the law everytime I want to watch a show online. As a result, they actually get to survive where Napster, BitTorrent, Megaupload and the rest died, hopefully long enough to fight another day.
Who doesn't want live local TV broadcasts to be offered thru the net?
I didn't read this article fully, but for me I am excited about Aereo as the antenna we have in our apartment only gets two channels and there is no DVR function. Thus we watch those two local channels as well use Netflix, Crackle and others thru our Roku box.
Further we pay $8 for Netflix so an additional $12 a month for 6 to 8 live channels with DVR functionality is no sweat ($20 a month). Our Internet is paid thru our apartment complex, so $20 a month vs. over a $100 for feeding cable pig is a good deal. With Aereo we now will be able to watch live sporting events, as well as local news.
Wow, this author (and Pando) are actually hitting a new low in competence. Kind of impressive.
Aereo might be a hack, but it's got a lot of useful use cases. On the go, people who just don't own a TV, people watching blacked-out events or outside their own market, etc.
$12 may or may not be the right price point, but the service itself is something I'd consider using.
"To understand just how ridiculous this plan is, let’s point out, first, that recording and streaming television is not a difficult technical problem to solve."
Yeah, if you paid for cable. The whole point of Aereo is that you DON'T pay for a full cable service and you get an experience that is more in line with how you watch TV.
I'd have a much easier time not rooting for Aereo if the author didn't spend 5 paragraphs writing fluff to read his own writing before getting to the point.
Other than the $12/month part, I don't see why this is such a lousy effort. It's pretty insane that in 2012 you can't get free broadcast TV over the net. Kudos to someone trying to make it happen. No kudos to those trying to prevent it and to those calling it stupid.
The very essence of a startup is to have an ingenious solution to a problem people have and might pay for. I had not heard about Aereo but if they expand to Florida, I will most likely sign up for it. Digital reception is horrible in my house, cable companies charge about the same for their most basic (usually hidden) package, and I cannot watch it on my iPad. Moreover, I do not want to string coax cables all over my house.
So for $12/mo, if I can watch live Simpsons or record it for later viewing (which I cannot view on Hulu Plus using my Roku even when I pay!), then I will most certainly pay for it. Hulu Plus is closer to Aereo's competitor, not Netflix. Old episodes of TV shows are available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus. But only Hulu Plus has the new seasons without charging by episode. If I can get new seasons of ABC/CBS/FOX shows to automatically record so I can watch them with my wife (who has a very erratic work schedule), $12/mo is NOTHING.
I have no idea what beef the author has with Aereo but I'm certainly rooting for it. Thanks to the author for telling me about Aereo.