Hearst Stations Inc., the owner of the WCVB-TV ABC affiliate
in Boston, has brought the fight to Aereo in the form of a lawsuit filed
Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, a move
that comes almost two months after Aereo
launched its broadband TV/cloud DVR service in Boston.
Similar to the broadcaster-led suits Aereo faces in New
York, Hearst claims that Aereo is violating copyright rules and harming
Hearst's business by retransmitting WCVB's TV signal without permission and
without compensating Hearst.
"Aereo has no right, under any license or statute, to
retransmit WCVB's copyrighted programming," Hearst claimed in the suit (GigaOm
has posted a copy of ithere).
"Other companies, such as cable, satellite and other telecommunications
distributors obtain the consent of SCVB and pay WCVB to retransmit WCFB's
signal containing its programming... Aereo further free-rides on WCVB's
substantial investment in its broadcasting infrastructure."
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