What the heck is Aereo, anyway?
By Brian Stelter, CNN
Aereo is a streaming video service that costs $8 a month. It is a new way to watch and record shows on local television stations.
Now Aereo's legality is before the Supreme Court. Is it, as Aereo argues, a legal and innovative way for consumers to get more control over how they watch TV? Or is it what some of the country's biggest broadcast networks say - a business built on a blatant violation of copyright law?
How does it work? Using thousands of miniature TV antennas, Aereo scoops up the freely available signals of local stations. Then it delivers the signals to smart phones, tablets or computers via the Internet. Subscribers pick what to watch through a traditional on-screen guide. They can also record shows and stream them later.
Where is Aereo available? Aereo started in the New York City metropolitan area. It is now online in New York and 10 other markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, and Miami.
Read more of Brian's article on CNN.com here.
From Brian: 7 takeaways from April 20 show
If you weren't able to tune in on Sunday, here were some of the moments that really stood out to me:
1. We led Sunday's show with Sharyl Attkisson's story. Attkisson, a veteran CBS News investigative correspondent, resigned in March because she said she was having a harder and harder time getting her stories onto the air. In an interview, she seemed to blame a mix of political and corporate considerations, and suggested that her former bosses shied away from tough stories:
"In general, there was a pattern of more - many more stories in recent years being embraced if they were seen as being positive to government, the administration and even certain corporations, that if they were stories that were pitched that could be perceived as negative to government, administration and certain corporations."
Attkisson also said some managers at CBS "do often seem to feel defensive about - almost personally defensive about - stories that could make the government look bad." Here are parts one and two of the interview.
2. The Attkisson interview generated quite a bit of attention - here are a few of the followup news stories:
- The Hollywood Reporter: Sharyl Attkisson: CBS News Resistant Toward Criticizing Government, Corporations
- Town Hall: Attkisson: Some CBS Bosses Seemed 'Personally Defensive' of the Obama Administration
- RealClearPolitics: Sharyl Attkisson: Media Matters May Have Been Paid To Attack Me
- Mediaite: Media Matters Responds to Attkisson: Criticism ‘Based Only on her Shoddy Reporting’
3. "I think there was an expectation that the [Pulitzer Prize] committee had to recognize the reporting in one way or another, and the question was going to be how. So to learn that it was a Public Service award and that it was given to The Guardian and to The Washington Post for the work that we had done was really gratifying, because I think that is what the idea was - that we were always trying to fulfill - which was doing the reporting in public service." –Glenn Greenwald on the Pulitzer win for NSA surveillance stories FULL POST
Supreme Court case could change how you watch TV
By Brian Stelter, CNN
A two-year-long legal battle between the country's biggest broadcasters and a startup called Aereo is about to culminate at theU.S. Supreme Court.
The court's decision, expected sometime this summer, could have far-reaching implications for television and technology companies - and ultimately on how people watch TV programs.
That's because Aereo brings up crucial questions about copyright law and threatens to disrupt lucrative business models.
The court will hear arguments in the case on Tuesday morning. Legal experts are divided about the most likely outcome. But Aereo is undeniably the underdog, opposed by the owners of virtually all the major media companies in the United States.
Read more of Brian's article on CNN.com here.
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About the host
Brian Stelter is the host of "Reliable Sources" and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Before he joined CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Top of the Morning."
Here's his biography. You can read his stories on this blog and at CNNMoney.com/Media/.
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