Aereo Confounds the High Court

This week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the case of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) v. Aereo. At issue is whether the upstart digital company can legally transmit broadcast television content without paying the networks. Aereo allows you to stream -- and store, as you would with a DVR -- local TV through a system of tiny antennas that subscribers essentially rent. The Supreme Court justices were at times confounded by how the technology works and even by which networks would be impacted. Aereo is currently operating in a handful of cities. If the Court allows it to proceed, the broadcast networks have threatened to stop providing their content for free over the airwaves and instead to become cable channels.