If you work in local TV, here’s an interesting one for you. Bamboom is a new startup that’s working on a service that lets subscribers watch live and time-shifted local TV on phones, tablets and TV sets — without licensing the programming. Um, how?
Let’s start with the Cablevision court ruling in 2008 that allowed the cable company to create “remote DVRs” that lets subscribers record programming stored at Cablevision — not on a DVR in the household. The networks tried, unsuccessfully, to overturn the ruling.
Similarly, Bamboom is making small antennas — “so small, we can put hundreds of thousands of them in a safe, secure location,” explains a promotional video. Each subscriber will rent a “personal antenna” along with their own tuner and DVR, which then stores the video in the cloud.
And boom! Subscribers can watch the video via any internet-connected device, with Facebook and Twitter built into the viewing experience. Explains a story in the LA Times: “This approach, the company’s lawyers argue, doesn’t violate the copyright owners’ exclusive rights to duplicate, distribute or publicly perform their works, because Bamboom isn’t doing the recording or retransmitting — its customers are, using equipment supplied by Bamboom but controlled by the viewers.” And the service prevents copying or streaming to more than one device at a time.
Bamboom just landed $4.5 million in funding, and it’s currently beta-testing the service in New York. It also says it has plans to integrate its service with Netflix. Stay tuned…
