Skitter Quietly Launches TV Streaming over Broadband

By PCMag Staff

April 16, 2012

Add another name to the list of companies trying to provide local television service via the Internet: Skitter.

Last week, Skitter quietly launched in Portland, Ore, providing ten local TV channels streamed over the Internet, including the local ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates.

The difference? Skitter has negotiated with the stations themselves for retransmission rights, placing them on the right side of the legal tussle that has embroiled a rival, Aereo, as well as others who have succumbed to legal pressure and folded.

The service will cost between $12 to $15 per household per month, according to GigaOM, which first reported the news. The stream is only being made available to Roku boxes and the WD TV set-top box from Western Digital.

According to MultiChannel, Skitter has retransmission agreements with each of the local Portland stations, except KPTV and the PBS affiliate. Skitter president Bob Saunders told MultiChannel that the KPTV, the Fox affiliate, did not respond to a retransmission request within 30 days, allowing it to pick KPTV up under the FCC's "must carry" laws for no payment.

Skitter has a deal with Stayton, Ore.-based Stayton Cooperative Telephone Company, which is planning to offer an IPTV service based on Skitter's technology.

Aereo, by contrast, has not negotiated a retransmission agreement with any of the local networks in its single service area, New York City. The service, backed by Barry Diller's IAC, uses an array of microantennas, enough to provide one per user, the company claims, and thus avoid laws that prohibit the public rebroadcasting without the broadcaster's consent. That argument didn't sway a collection of broadcasters, who sued Aereo before its March launch.

Aereo, meanwhile, has countersued. The first trial date is May 30, PaidContent reported, where the studios will have their first chance to ask a judge for an injunction. Meanwhile, Aereo streams ahead.