Copyright Office Deems Aereo Not A Cable Company

More bad news for Aereo. U.S. copyright officials do not consider it a cable company under the terms of copyright law, CNBC is reporting.

Aereo lost a Supreme Court ruling last month after the court found the television-streaming service illegal due to violating broadcaster’s copyright licenses without paying a fee. Broadcasters argued that Aereo’s service is a public performance rather than a private performance.

Aereo looked too much like a cable company, and the Supreme Court found that even though the service is rendered useless without the user tuning it, this technological difference from other cable companies isn’t enough to deem the service a private performance.

Aereo filed a letter with a New York district court last week that the company now saw itself as a cable provider so it could acquire the same license available to other cable companies.

“In the view of the Copyright Office, internet retransmissions of broadcast television fall outside the scope of the Section 111 license,” the Copyright Office wrote in the letter dated July 16, according to CNBC.

Aereo’s service has two products: a remote mini-antenna stored in the company’s server farms that is rented by users and a DVR/cloud storage service that stores recorded shows. Aereo, which provides around 30 channels, allows users to record and transcode television to watch for about $12 a month.

Striving to stay afloat, Aereo is looking to provide its service as a cable company by continuing to stream content but with set fees.

The Copyright Office says it is not refusing Aereo’s filings wholly, but would accept it for the time being. On Tuesday, the office is also accepting comments from the public for 30 days on the Supreme Court’s ruling.