Broadcasters win court battle against video streaming service

{mosads}FilmOn X and Aereo argue they are only making it easier for customers to access free television signals, but the broadcasters argue that both companies are stealing their copyrighted content. Cable and satellite providers pay to retransmit broadcast television.

Aereo has won a series of court decisions in New York, but Rosemary Collyer, a D.C. federal judge, granted the broadcasters’ request for a preliminary injunction to shut down FilmOn X, which was formerly known as Aereokiller.

She concluded that the service qualifies as a “public performance” under copyright law and that FilmOn X “is in no meaningful way different from cable television companies.”

A lawyer for FilmOn X told The Wall Street Journal that the company plans to appeal.