Aereo probably won't make it to Philly this year (Update: Baltimore to launch December 16)
Tom Paine
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It now appears likely that TV service Aereo will fall quite short of its original goal for 2013 of entering 22 markets (in addition to New York) by the end of 2013, including Philadelphia.
Aereo, backed primarily by Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp (First Round Capital was an early investor), has launched so far in nine cities, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Aereo is planning its next launch in Wisconsin in early 2014.
Aereo uses tiny antennas to pick up over-the air signals and submit them over broadband
to individual residences, where the programming can be streamed over or stored on different devices.
Aereo has faced numerous legal challenges, particularly from broadcasters including Comcast's NBC, in cases which might ultimately end up in the Supreme Court. The total investment in Aereo to this point has been $63 million, according to CrunchBase.
In October, a Wall Street Journal Reporter estimated that Aereo could have about 100,000
subscribers in the New York area, by counting the number of lit-up boxes in the company's Brooklyn facilities. Aereo may have benefitted in New York from the long struggle between CBS and Time Warner Cable over retrans fees.
Update: Aereo did announce today (December 5) it will launch in the Baltimore area on December 16. Aereo says it will announce additional launch dates for its expansion cities throughout the remainder of the year.
