Business & Tech

Online TV That Circumvents Cable Says It Will Expand to Baltimore Area

The four major television networks are taking the service to court, alleging the system infringes on their copyright programs.

Online television service Aereo Inc. plans to expand to the Baltimore area starting Dec. 16, offering monthly subscriptions as low as $8 for viewing or recording live television on smart phones, tablets and laptops, the Long Island City-based company announced Thursday, reports the Baltimore Sun.

The technology, which converts TV broadcast signals into computer data sent over the Internet, will be available to more than 2.7 million consumers in Baltimore city and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Harford, Howard, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot counties, the Sun said.

TV broadcasters and networks such asFoxABCCBS and NBC are challenging Aereo's use of broadcasters' material in copyright infringement lawsuits, according to the newspaper. Aereo says its antenna/DVR technology gives consumers access to signals broadcast over public airwaves. 

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In the Baltimore metropolitan region, consumers will be able to watch 17 over-the-air channels including WMAR (ABC), WBAL (NBC), WJZ (CBS), WNUV (CW) and WMPT (PBS); and special interest channels such as MeTV, MyNetwork TV, BounceTV, ZUUS Country and ThisTV, the company said in a blog post. In addition, consumers will also have the ability to add Bloomberg Television.

Membership begins at $8 per month, for access to Aereo’s cloud-based antenna/DVR technology and 20 hours of DVR storage. For an additional $4, consumers can receive 60 hours of DVR storage for a total of $12 per month. Consumers who join Aereo will get their first of month of access for free, the company said on its blog post.

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Aereo's technology works on smart devices from tablets to phones to laptop computers, the company said.


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