Fox cable threat: Fox has threatened to leave network television and only operate its networks through a subscription service.
The charge comes amid dispute with Aereo, a startup that offers low-priced TV for consumers by capturing thousands of signals via antennas.
But Chase Carey, the chief executive officer of News Corp., which oversees Fox, said that the channel might not have any other choice.
“If we can’t have our rights properly protected through those legal and political avenues, we will pursue business solutions. One such business solution would be to take the network and turn it into a subscription service,” said Carey at a broadcasting conference in Las Vegas, according to Reuters.
Last week, a U.S. appeals court rejected a petition signed by several major broadcasters to stop Aereo, an online service.
“This is not an ideal path we look to pursue, but we can’t sit idly by and let an entity steal our signal,” Carey elaborated, according to The Associated Press. “If we can’t do a fair deal, we could take the whole network to a subscription model.”
In a sharply divided ruling, the appeals court accepted Aereo’s position that having individual antennas meant that Aereo wasn’t retransmitting signals. Rather, the appeals court said that Aereo enabled its subscribers to do what they already could on their own with their own antenna and video recorder, according to AP.
Carey said Aereo and other businesses like it jeopardize the entire model laid out by network television.
Gordon Smith, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, said that he hopes the courts will rule against Aereo and force it to adhere to the standards of other pay TV operators.
“It’s disappointing to hear that Fox believes that consumers should not be permitted to access free-to-air broadcast television,” Aereo spokeswoman Virginia Lam stated on Monday.
Other plaintiffs in the Aereo suit include Comcast’s NBC, Disney’s ABC, and CBS, according to Reuters.
“We believe that broadcasting in this country, irrespective of Fox, is a very powerful, fundamental presence,” Aereo Chief Executive Chet Kanojia said, according to AP.
If Fox becomes a subscription service, “we think somebody will be there to take advantage of that great idea of reaching this mass audience,” Kanojia said.
