Image: Aereo
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The question of Aereo's legality has preoccupied media executives, industry analysts, and tech policy experts from New York to Washington, DC to Los Angeles for more than two years. From the beginning, the case had all the hallmarks of a David vs. Goliath struggle, pitting a scrappy tech startup -- albeit one funded by billionaire mogul Barry Diller -- against the nation's most powerful media companies, including NBC, FOX, ABC, and CBS.The broadcasters warned that if Aereo prevailed, they could yank popular shows like "The Big Bang Theory" and "NCIS" from free TV and move them to pay channels like Showtime. The National Football League and Major League Baseball threatened to take high-profile broadcasts like the Super Bowl and World Series to cable. CBS CEO Les Moonves, Aereo's most outspoken antagonist, repeatedly branded the startup as nothing more than a thief."In short, a cloud of lawsuits now hangs over cloud computing."
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