Is the Aereo service just a giant loophole?

Cafe Society
1

It just seems to me to be incredibly silly to have to make available for ‘rent’ literally thousands & thousands of tiny, individually-assigned antennas instead of just tapping off one main (also antenna) feed. Is it really done this way simply to skirt arcane broadcasting laws? I’m not complaining that it’s wrong or anything, it’s just seems like one giant* ‘Let’s all pretend it’s not something even though we all know that it obviously is’* kind of thing.

This line from the Wiki entry:

Aereo provides this service by leasing to each user an individual remote antenna. This distinguishes Aereo from purely internet-based streaming services.

seems to be saying this. But why would it be any different, legally, if they simply connected all their users to a single antenna feed?

2

Yes. It’s a dodge. They’ve been sued.

However, it’s arguably a legal dodge.

3

Since broadcasters sued under the principle that their broadcasts are copyrighted public performances, and that got shot down, I’m not even sure why Aereo needs to use the dodge of individual antennae.

If you have three TVs in your house that can receive over-the-air, you certainly aren’t required to have a separate antenna for each one.