The broadcasters argued that the remote streaming circumvented them and allowed users to steal their content. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court and in the end Aereo lost the decision that was made just over a week ago.

David & Goliath: The rise of Simple TV

CEO Mark Ely is convincing his customers to join a similar start-up run called Simple.TV. Aereo and Simple.TV both revolve around the idea of sharing content without a traditional television subscription. These services are meant to cater to cord cutters who are cancelling subscriptions and switching to companies such as Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix. Simple.TV sells hardware that allows subscribers to watch TV shows on their personal devices such as tablets, smart phones, laptops, or even their own home TVs.

Television (Photo: Daniel Y. Go)

Over the past two years, the start-up Aereo has been fighting cable broadcasters over its function as a remote TV streaming company. Aereo allows users access to near-live stream television without paying for a cable bill of their own.

With Aereo, a user would pay about $10 for an antenna in a warehouse that would stream television. With Simple.TV subscribers pay just under $200 for an antenna and a box for a similar service. The problem for the cable companies is that Aereo was remote and Simple.TV is actually in a subscribers house and he or she is privately capturing signals.

The Battle Continues

In home cable subscriptions have declined 7% since 2013 while the number of households that use internet to stream TV has risen about 30% since 2013. Cable companies have created incentives for customers not to cancel, such as Comcast's plan to offer cloud streaming and special packages for students.

Innovation Reigns Supreme

According to the chief executive of CBS, Leslie Moonves,  “We are not against people moving forward and offering our content online and all sorts of places, as long as it is appropriately licensed,” he said. “Innovation is still alive and well and thriving.”

These smaller companies aim to earn a share of the broadcast $167 billion market. What will the future impact of such small companies have on the overall TV market? Will they eventually grab a larger market share? What will broadcasting companies compete in such a space? How will marketers and agencies measure and map out engagement for these fractured audiences?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ryan Polachi is a contributing writer concentrating his focus on Marketing, Finance and Innovation. He can be reached at rpolachi@IIRUSA.com.