Aereo Wants You To Tell Your Congressman To Make The Service Legal Again

Aereo's CEO Chet Kanojia emailed customers today asking them to contact their Congressmen and ask for a new law that would make Aereo's technology legal.

To recap: Aereo was taking over-the-air TV signals and piping them over the Internet to consumers for an $8 per month fee. It called its tech a cloud antenna. Broadcasters charge a lot of money to cable companies to carry their channels and were none too pleased with Aereo. Lawsuits ensued until Aereo and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Last week, the Supreme Court said that said Aereo's business model was not legal, overturning rulings from lower courts that said that it was.

That ruling was bad news for Aereo and other fledgling TV startups looking to upset the status quo.

Some industry analysts say Aereo isn't completely dead. Perhaps it can sell its technology or finds another way to use it. We'll see.

Meanwhile, Aereo this week suspended service to customers this week.

For now, this is what Kanojia is asking its customers to do:

A Letter to Our Consumers: Standing Together for Innovation, Progress and Technology - Let's Raise Our Voices

On Saturday, many of you received the news that we decided to pause our operations temporarily, as a result of the United States Supreme Court's reversal of a lower court decision in favor of Aereo.

Your response in support of the Aereo team has been overwhelming and touching. Your tweets, emails and Facebook posts have made it clear how important it is for so many Americans to have access to a cloud-based antenna to watch live broadcast television. Many of you have asked, "What can we do?"

Today, I'm asking you to raise your hands and make your voices heard. Tell your lawmakers how disappointed you are that the nation's highest court issued a decision that could deny you the right to use the antenna of your choice to access live over-the-air broadcast television. Tell them your stories of why having access to a cloud-based antenna is important to you and your families. Show them you care about this issue.

Visit the updated ProtectMyAntenna.org, find your representatives and send tweets, emails and Facebook messages asking them to take action to protect your right to use the antenna of your choice to access live free-to-air broadcasts, including the ability to use a cloud-based antenna.

Don't let your voices be silenced. Let's stand together for innovation, progress, and technology.

Thank you for your continued support. We are truly grateful.

Yours truly,

Chet Kanojia