|
 New investors included Gordon Crawford and Himalaya Capital
Management, who joined Aereo's existing investors, Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp,
Highland Capital Partners, FirstMark Capital, among others.
Walt Disney Co's ABC network, CBS Broadcasting Inc, Comcast Corp's
NBCUniversal, and Fox Television Stations Inc claim Aereo's
streaming service violates copyrights.
Aereo charges a low monthly fee to watch live or recorded broadcast
TV channels on computers or mobile devices and does not pay the
broadcasters, while pay-TV operators, such as Cablevision Systems
Corp and Comcast, have to pay billions in retransmission consent
fees.
In October, broadcasting networks, including Disney and Comcast's
NBCUniversal, who want to shut down the Internet TV startup, filed a
lawsuit arguing that Aereo steals copyrighted television content.
In April 2013, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the
broadcasters' request to shut Aereo while litigation moved forward.
The broadcasters then appealed against the verdict in the U.S.
Supreme Court in October 2013.
[to top of second column] |
Aereo said it will use the current financing to expand its services
nationwide. The company intends to grow to five additional markets
by the end of first quarter.
(Reporting by Kanika Sikka in Bangalore;
editing by Supriya Kurane)
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