Aereo Ruling May Set Stage For Defining Distributors

Broadcasters were breathing a big sigh of relief after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Aereo was indeed providing a public performance of their work without compensation.

Their underlying challenge in the lower courts remains, and Aereo founder Chet Kanojia vowed to keep fighting.

But even though the Supreme Court reversal of the Second Circuit’s denial of an injunction against Aereo does not technically settle those lower court cases, it effectively does, with language that makes it clear what Aereo is and isn’t. What it is, says the court, is like a cable operator or other multichannel video programming distributor, and not simply a cool technology to access free stuff.

That could give the Federal Communications Commission some direction in its proceeding on how to define an over-the-top video service provider, and could also send the decision’s critics to Congress for help clarifying its impact on other technologies, as the court pointed out.