The streaming television startup, Aereo, currently only offers its cutting edge service in the five boroughs of New York. Customers living in other areas of the country were all out of luck until recently when Aereo CEO, Chet Kanojia, announced that his company would be looking to expand their customer base by offering the streaming television service in other areas. The move came after the company closed a Series B funding led by IAC and Highland Capital Partners that raised $38 million.
The extra cash is going to go a long way in helping the firm expand and Aereo is planning to add 22 new locations by Spring 2013 According to the startup they expect to be in the following cities soon:
Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Birmingham (AL), Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Madison (WI), Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence (RI), Raleigh-Durham (NC), Salt Lake City, Tampa, and Washington D.C.
The Aereo CEO did not mention a timeline of when the service would go live in each city but the information may be made public once the wheels are in motion. The addition of new markets may be the best thing to happen to the startup which found its self hit by lawsuits in March of 2012.
Aereo uses antenna/DVRs that are able to tune into local television broadcasts live and then pipe the programming to their users online or on mobile devices. Fox, Univision, and PBS have not taken the disruptive technology lightly and have already filed lawsuits claiming copyright infringement. The new funding should help the startup take on these cases in court and keep its service going with out hitting any legal roadblock.
Source: TechCrunch