[mythtv-users] Court rules commercial-skipping in recordings covered under Fair Use

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Michael T. Dean
<mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
......
> That said, Aereo says they're not rebroadcasting since they have an antenna
> for each user of their service.  However, one has to wonder just how much
> they'd actually be able to pick up with an antenna that's (literally) the
> size of a dime.  I know my 12'x16' antenna has a challenge picking up some
> of my channels, at least some of the time.  If they're really using those
> dime-sized antennas (antennae for you Brits, but I specifically mean the
> metallic type, not those on insects), I would love to get my hands on that
> magic.

No violations of physics required.  You just have to "lease" some
space near the farm (antenna farm that is :-).  You could pick up
the signal with a paper clip(*) (which is about what an Aereo
antenna looks like).  Since it is common for many broadcasters
in larger locales (big cities) to transmit from the same
location/tower(**), or a small set of locations, you can easily
choose your locations.

So, Mike, you just have to move next to one of those farms
to "solve" your problems....

Gary

(*) Where I grew up, the local high school was about
half a mile from one of those AM mega-transmitters
It was possible to light up a light bulb with just some
stretched out wire (a dipole antenna).  Lots of power
when you are so close to a 50000 watt AM transmitter.

(**) Which, as demonstrated early last decade,
meant you could disable an entire cities broadcast
environment with one event.  I seem to recall only
the CBS affiliate had an auxiliary transmitter able
to get back on the air quickly.