This article was taken from the March 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
For a soft-spoken media impresario, Chet Kanojia spends a lot of time in court. But then the 44-year-old Bostonian is trying to break what he calls the US cable industry's "cartel" -- using a centimetre-wide TV aerial made of silver-coated copper. Kanojia's startup, Aereo, leases the aerials to consumers who can record and stream over-the-air TV shows to mobile devices. By streaming the signal from "your" aerial -- packed in their thousands in his data centre -- he believes he's protected by a loophole that lets viewers control how they watch. The industry thinks otherwise, first suing Aereo three weeks after its February 2012 launch. So far, four judgements have gone in Kanojia's favour. "There's a reason the record companies didn't create iTunes," he tells Wired over breakfast in New York. "They're not going to cannibalise their business. You need an asymmetrical advantage - we found that: the antenna." Aereo offers around 30 channels in ten US cities -- not quite the 22 cities promised for 2013, but then Kanojia has been busy. "The industry has a standard playbook," he says. "First, litigate. Kill them. If you fail, go to the government. If that doesn't work, then figure out how to do business." He sold his first startup, Navic Networks, to Microsoft, and has raised $97m (£59m) from Aereo investors including FirstMark Capital and Barry Diller's IAC, building a team of more than 100 people in Boston and New York.
The case is now moving to the US Supreme Court. "It's legislating the length of a wire. That's how silly it is," he says.
The fight goes on.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
