Earlier today, Barry Diller introduced Aereo, a company backed by IAC, at a press conference in New York City. Aereo streams broadcast TV to your browser and provides a DVR in the cloud by miniaturizing TV antennas and packing them in equipment that sits on the network. In the video above, which we took at the event, you can see Diller’s opening remarks and part of CEO Chaitanya Kanojia’s presentation. At the end, I grabbed Diller on camera to ask him how does this expand beyond just broadcast channels to cable and beyond.
If Aereo can build a big enough audience with bringing broadcast TV to iPads and other screens, then the company can try to cut deals with other channels for carriage. “Eventually,” says Diller, “it is my belief that the world really deserves a la carte programming.” He continues, “It would be much better for users to say, ‘These are the programs I want, I don’t want you to bundle them for me.'”
Is TV in the cloud is on its way? Will the cable industry ever succumb to this type of logic? I sure hope so.