Supreme Court Won't Hear Ivi Challenge

The Supreme Court Monday denied ivi's request
that the court review the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision last summerupholding an injunction against the company's streaming of TV station signals
over the Internet without permission.

The
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York had granted
the injunction on the grounds that programmers were likely to win their
challenge on the argument that ivi was not a cable system entitled to a
compulsory license, and that those programmers, which included major studios,
networks and broadcast groups, would suffer irreparable harm.

The
federal appeals found no reason to reverse that decision and the Supreme Court
apparently found no reason to review that decision.

"NAB is pleased the
Supreme Court refused to review the finding that ivi's unauthorized retransmission
of TV programming over the Internet without the permission of  content
owners is illegal," said the National Association of Broadcasters.

Among
those seeking the original injunction were Among those filing for the
injunction were NBC, CBS, Fox, ABC, The CW, PBS, Tribune, Univision and
Fischer, as well as the commissioner of baseball and studios associated with
the major nets/owned station groups.

Broadcasters
continue to battle against what they see as unauthorized or illegal re-use of
their signals online, most notably by Aereo TV, which claims it is simply
providing online access to remote antennas providing the free over-the-air
signals their customers are entitled to.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.