Aereo

Aereo is a term used in Romance languages with meanings connected to air or aviation. In Italian, aereo is a noun meaning airplane and an adjective meaning airborne or aerial; common phrases include trasporto aereo (air transport) and compagnia aerea (airline). In Spanish, the equivalent adjective is aéreo and is used in contexts such as transporte aéreo or servicios aéreos.

In addition to its linguistic uses, Aereo refers to a defunct American technology company founded in 2012 by Chet Kanojia. The service offered cloud-based streaming of local broadcast television by using a large number of individual antennas located in a centralized facility, delivering the signals to subscribers over the Internet. The business model prompted a major copyright dispute with several networks, which led to a landmark legal decision.

The case, Aereo, Inc. v. ABC, et al., reached the United States Supreme Court in 2014. The Court unanimously held that Aereo’s transmissions were public performances under the Copyright Act, effectively infringing the networks’ rights. Following the ruling, Aereo announced it would cease operations, and the company subsequently shut down and liquidated its assets. The case influenced ongoing debates about cloud-based DVR services, streaming of broadcast content, and the boundaries of copyright in the digital age.