Aereo Expands To San Antonio, Runs Out Of Capacity In NYC

aereoantennaeThe loophole behind Aereo, the service that lets people watch broadcast TV from Internet-connected devices, is that for every streaming viewer, there’s one teeny antenna at Aereo HQ. This helps the company get around copyright restrictions, since each viewer of local broadcasts has their own antenna (just not in their home.) The company recently announced that it’s run out of capacity in New York City, the first area where it launched, and is expanding to the San Antonio, Texas metropolitan area.

The San Antonio television market includes 30 over-the-air channels that Aereo subscribers will gain the ability to steam on their computers and other streaming devices. These include local affiliates ABC, NBC, Aereo foe CBS, Fox, CW, PBS, UniVision, and Telemundo. There are also special-interest channels available over the air, such as kids’ programming from Smile of a Child.

Curious whether you’ll be able to subscribe? Here are the counties in Texas where Aereo will be available beginning on February 1Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, De Witt, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Goliad, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, La Salle, Lavaca, McMullen, Medina, Real, Uvalde, Wilson and Zavala.

The capacity problems in New York were announced this morning, just before the Winter Olympics begin, with the most popular sports and opening and closing ceremonies broadcast over the air on NBC. Sources tell Forbes that the number of paying customers in the NYC market is only about 300,000. The capacity reportedly ran out on Friday, just a few days before another major over-the-air TV event: the Super Bowl.

Aereo Announces Launch Date for San Antonio [Press Release]
Sold out in New York, Aereo to expand to San Antonio [CNET]

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