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Aereo Is Officially 'Pausing' Its Service After This Week's Disastrous Supreme Court Ruling

Jillian D'Onfro   

Aereo Is Officially 'Pausing' Its Service After This Week's Disastrous Supreme Court Ruling

chet kanojia ceo aereo

Aereo

CEO Chet Kanojia

Aereo, a TV streaming startup, was dealt a hard blow this week when the Supreme Court ruled that it had violated copyrights owned by TV broadcasters, marketers, and distributors whose programs the company streamed.

The company has officially released a statement saying that it is pausing its service starting today.

"You will be able to access your cloud-based antenna and DVR only until 11:30 a.m. ET today," CEO Chet Kanojia writes. "All of our users will be refunded their last paid month."

Kanojia has previously said that there was "no plan B" for the company should the Supreme Court rule against it, but he urges customers to keep being vocal about the issue because Aereo's "journey is far from done."

Here's the full letter:

"The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress." - Charles Kettering, inventor, entrepreneur, innovator & philanthropist

A little over three years ago, our team embarked on a journey to improve the consumer television experience, using technology to create a smart, cloud-based television antenna consumers could use to access live over the air broadcast television.

On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower Court decision in favor of Aereo, dealing a massive setback to consumers.

As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower Court. We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps. You will be able to access your cloud-based antenna and DVR only until 11:30 a.m. ET today. All of our users will be refunded their last paid month. If you have questions about your account, please email support@aereo.com or tweet us @AereoSupport.

The spectrum that the broadcasters use to transmit over the air programming belongs to the American public and we believe you should have a right to access that live programming whether your antenna sits on the roof of your home, on top of your television or in the cloud.

On behalf of the entire team at Aereo, thank you for the outpouring of support. It has been staggering and we are so grateful for your emails, Tweets and Facebook posts. Keep your voices loud and sign up for updates at ProtectMyAntenna.org - our journey is far from done.

Yours truly,

Chet Kanojia

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