Aereo takes another lump in search for legal legitimacy

Internet TV service Aereo’s bid to find a workable business model suffered another legal setback Thursday, with the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York ruling that a federal district court judge will determine whether the company qualifies as a cable operator. After losing a U.S. Supreme Court copyright fight in June to a group of commercial and noncommercial broadcasters, Aereo has tried to recast itself as a cable operator. Doing so would allow it to carry content if it pays networks for programming. Aereo initially launched as a subscription service, using banks of dime-sized antennas to capture broadcast signals and convert them into streaming video distributed over the Internet. Subscribers rented the antennas and could watch TV programs live or on demand via a device similar to a digital video recorder.

Chicago/Midwest Emmys find broadcast home on WYCC

This year’s Chicago/Midwest Emmy awards will be televised for the first time in 25 years by WYCC PBS Chicago. WYCC plans to cover the November 1 award ceremony with a two-hour live special and additional content streaming online. “We’re looking for this to actually be a very large, beautiful production, rivaling that of a national production,” said Paul Buckner, general manager at WYCC. According to Buckner, the station is working with the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the group that presents the annual regional Emmys, to find a host, presenters and live performers. The station plans to announce the host and performers Sept.

NLRB to resolve contested union election at Baltimore’s WYPR-FM

A dispute over unionization at Baltimore’s WYPR will be resolved by the National Labor Relations Board. WYPR staff voted July 30 on whether to seek representation from broadcast union SAG-AFTRA. Nine voted in favor and 11 against, with seven votes contested by one of the parties, according to an NLRB official who requested anonymity when commenting on an ongoing proceeding. The NLRB will review the contested votes to determine their eligibility, with the vote recounted only if at least three of the contested votes are determined eligible. SAG-AFTRA can only enter the workplace with a majority vote.

WFYI expands to Terre Haute with rebroadcast deal

Indianapolis-based WFYI Public Media will expand to the Terre Haute, Ind., market next month through a rebroadcast deal with Indiana State University. Terre Haute–based Indiana State University owns a pair of signals in the city, WISU-FM 89.7 and WZIS-FM 90.7. Under the noncash deal announced Wednesday, the university will move the student station from WISU to WZIS, with the 13,500-watt WISU rebroadcasting WFYI’s news/talk programming starting in mid-September. WZIS, formerly WMHD-FM, was previously owned by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute and aired music programmed by students. Indiana State bought the 1,400-watt station in June for $16,465, according to FCC records.