New York City residents will soon have another way to cut the cable cord thanks to a new start-up venture called Aereo. The service, backed by Barry Diller and available starting March 14, will stream local TV channels via the Internet to subscribers, who will also have access to an online DVR.
For people who can’t access over-the-air broadcasts and don’t watch other channels, Aereo may be a cheaper alternative than a bare-bones cable package. It will charge $12 per month, which includes 40 hours of DVR storage. Unlike with some cable providers, Aereo lets you watch live TV on mobile devices, even allowing you to start watching a program on your Internet-connected TV, then continue viewing it on an iPad or smartphone (even letting you pause or rewind it), according to the New York Times.
Aereo may run into legal challenges from the TV industry, though it is preparing for that by installing enough tiny antennas in Brooklyn that each subscriber would be given an individual one (thereby supposedly skirting copyright issues). The company says New York is a starting point, and it hopes to move on to other locations in the future.
Would you pay to get streaming access to local channels (and an online DVR) in order to halt your cable or satellite service? Let us know in the Talkback section.
