Aereo is now getting sued by major broadcasters in Utah

Aereo is facing yet another lawsuit questioning the legality of its TV anywhere service, with the latest coming from big media companies and local broadcast affiliate stations in Utah (PDF).

Aereo’s service streams and records the freely available over-the-air local television content from major broadcasters like ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, CW, and other local stations via desktop computers, set-top boxes, and mobile devices. It uses a tiny antenna for each subscriber — basically outsourcing the antenna you’d need to set up at home to record broadcasted content. It costs $8 or $12 per month, depending on how many hours of programming you want to record, which is far lower than what your cable provider would charge for essentially the same services.

And over the last year, Aereo has had quite a few lawsuits filed against it by the likes of CBS, Fox, ABC, and others who claim that the company is blatantly violating their copyrights and not having to pay a fee for offering to record their content. And thus far, federal courts in both New York City and Boston have upheld Aereo’s right to continue operating as a legal service.

That hasn’t, however, stopped major broadcasters from filing new cases, such as the latest in Utah. CBS and Fox in particular want one of its cases against Aereo to extend all the way to the Supreme Court, which would be a heck of a lot easier to do if even one federal judge handed them a victory.

Aereo first announced that it would be providing service in Utah back in July. And unlike its other roll outs, this one would provide service to the entire state rather than just the largest cities in the region. That makes this lawsuit a bit more interesting.

We’re reaching out to Aereo for a comment about the suit, and will update this post with any new information.

Via L.A. Times