CBS ‘would sell content’ to Aereo

CBS’s CEO Les Mooves has said he would sell content to streaming service Aereo, which was soundly defeated by America’s broadcasters in court earlier last month.

Moonves, who is one of Aereo’s largest critics, said CBS Corp. was “willing to talk” to the company about a licensing agreement, adding: “The door was open and is still open.”

Moonves claimed Aereo’s CEO Chet Kanojia had never approached him about such an agreement, but that if he had, CBS would have considered it.

Aereo suspended operations following its crushing defeat at Supreme Court that defined its operations as akin to a cable operator. The firm then released a statement arguing it should be entitled to a statutory licence to transmit content as a ‘cable system’.

Moonves claimed Aereo’s legal defence, which coloured the broadcasters as stifling technological innovation in order to protect their own interests, was “pretty good” but “not fair”.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “It was unfair to characterise it as CBS is stopping innovation. Obviously, we’re in favour of innovation.”

Aereo has used individual antennaa to allow consumers to stream channels, including CBS and its broadcast rivals, online for a subscription fee.