Jerry Brito on How Government Regulations Distort the Television Airwaves
Of all the distortionary federal regulations in existence, writes Jerry Brito, few are more patently inefficient and convoluted than those governing the television airwaves. Aereo, a new startup backed by media mogul Barry Diller, is looking to blow it all up by offering a subscription service that lets you watch your local broadcast television channels over the Internet via a dime-sized antenna that picks up over-the-air signals. For their part, broadcasters accuse Aereo of pirating those signals. But as Brito explains, so far the courts have approved of Aereo's ingenious method of complying with the letter, if not the spirit, of the law.
