FilmOn CEO and Founder Alki David Responds to Aereo Inc.’s Brief Asking for a Supreme Court Hearing
Los Angeles, California (December 18, 2013) - As the battle for Americans’ right to congressionally granted free-to-air broadcast access heats up, Alki David, CEO and Founder of the free streaming television service FilmOn, responded to rival Aereo’s December 12 brief asking for a Supreme Court hearing.
“Aereo’s brief asking for a Supreme Court hearing is vital to the evolution of our technologies and our business as well as to stop some very bad injustices,” said David. “FilmOn has always acted within the scope of the law and it is the networks who have resorted to anti-competitive and repeated acts of criminality including cyber attacks, bribery, corruption and threats of violence.”
FilmOn and Aereo are often discussed together because of the tandem litigation, but the distinction is that while both use individually rented remote antenna farms, FilmOn’s service is completely free. Aereo charges a monthly subscription fee. Additionally FilmOn creates its own original programming and offers an extensive selection of officially licensed content including over 45,000 video on demand titles and 600 channels from broadcasters and content providers.
The big broadcasters have challenged this system region by region despite the fact that the original ads are shown to the viewer intact. FilmOn is currently awaiting a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which will affect the company’s ability to provide the antenna based service in nine Western states including major markets such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and San Francisco.
“There are five media companies running the whole US TV business,” said David. “The reality is that these broadcasters who were granted their spectrum by Congress to serve the public have become so powerful that it seems that they have created an extraordinary monopoly beyond the control of the FCC and of the Government itself.”
FilmOn and Aereo have filed amicus briefs in support of each other’s court battles in the past, (and Aereo has won the right to provide its service in New England), because each time one company wins the right to serve a region it provides precedent for the other.
David has announced his intention to take FIlmOn’s case to the Supreme Court if the Ninth Circuit does not rule in his favor.
“The Supreme Court will ultimately deal with this—whether at FilmOn’s request or Aereo’s—because this is how young people watch television. They refuse to be ripped off by the cable companies,” said David. “Fortunately for our revenues, most of our business comes from advertising on Filmon.TV, the parent platform, where the core audience is males 18-40. Not 50+ which is the average age of network television audiences."
About FilmOn:
Founded by Greek billionaire and media entrepreneur, Alki David, FilmOn is the world's leading free TV service and live TV app with 40 million downloads. FilmOn offers over 350 live TV channels including original programming, 600 video and audio podcasts from premium brands as well as over 45,000 video on demand titles at FilmOn.com and other destination sites online, including BattleCam.com. As of November 2013, FilmOn received 140 million unique users worldwide generating over 1 billion video streams. The service is available globally via computers, smartphones, tablets as well as the FilmOn App for iOS 7, Android and Windows 8 and IP-enabled set-top boxes and devices.
With offices in Beverly Hills and London and data-centers in Los Angeles, London, and Geneva, FilmOn curates the best of free televised entertainment from around the globe. For more information please visit FilmOn.com and connect with us on Twitter and Facebook. FilmOn.com Inc. was established in March 2009 by FilmOn.com Plc, a Berlin-listed public company (2FOA-BER) and is operated independently by a dedicated management team with offices in Los Angeles and London.
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Media Contact: Robyn Wilkov for FilmOn / robyn@robynhayley.com / 212.786.0628
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