Aereo confirmed Thursday that it will launch its mix of broadband TV and cloud DVR services in Cincinnati on Tuesday, January 21, claiming it will kick it off with a platform that’s capable of reaching 2.1 million consumers in that market.
Aereo said the launch in Greater Cincinnati includes the 24-county area across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Aereo has not revealed a subscriber figure on the service, which starts at $8 per month.
It said service in the Cincinnati market will offer access to about 30 over-the-air channels including WCPO (ABC), WLWT (NBC), WKRC (CBS), WXIX (Fox), WPTO (PBS) and CET (PBS); and “special interest” channels such as RetroTV, MeTV, BounceTV, TuffTV, WCPO Weather, Create and ThisTV. Aereo customers in can also add Bloomberg Television.
The launch comes about a week after Aereo landed a $34 “C” round of funding that the company will use to accelerate its national rollout.
It also comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision late last week to hear an appeal of broadcasters that are seeking to reverse a lower court’s ruling that denied their injunction request against Aereo.
Aereo, whose debut in Chicago has been delayed, has already launched service in Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Salt Lake City, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Denver and Baltimore.
Aereo said it will announce other launch dates for expansion cities throughout the year.
Markets previously identified by Aereo as potential expansion sites include Minneapolis; Madison, Wis.; Cleveland; Providence, R.I.; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pa.; Kansas City; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Birmingham, Ala., among others.
