Despite being sued by several broadcasters, Aero still manages to find time for developing its Android app. The app will be released in a public beta for those who live in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Miami, Houston, and Dallas, on October 22. These areas are classified as Aereo-friendly locations.
The free app will sync with Aereo membership account, which has a monthly fee that begins at $8 for accessing to 20 hours of DVR storage and live TV, per a press release. For an additional $4, customers can have access to 60 hours of DVR storage. Furthermore, Aereo is giving away the first month service free of charge.
"At Aereo, we believe customers should have more choice and control over how they watch television and a big part of that is expanding the universe of devices that they can use to access Aereo's technology," CEO Chet Kanojia said.
Aereo for Android will have compatibility with Android version 4.2 and higher. In addition, it will also include connectivity to a Roku box.
Already, Aereo's service is supported by iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, FireFox, Internet Explorer 9, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Apple TV (via Airplay), and Roku devices.
"This year, our focus has been on growing our footprint across the country. It's been an exciting year for the Aereo team as we've expanded beyond the east coast and into the south and west. Our future is bright and we remain as committed and passionate as ever to creating innovative and simple to use technology for our consumers to access live TV online," Kanojia said.
Aereo works by converting television signals into computer data and sends them over the air to mobile devices and computers. Apparently, things have been working out well for Aereo until broadcast companies chose to sue the company for not paying re-transmission fees. However, a key court ruling in Aereo's favor claims its service does not infringe on copyrights, according to Variety. The victory includes a ruling in Boston on Tuesday, denying WCVB and ABC request for an initial ban to stop Aereo's service.
