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Electricity Use Impedes Aereo’s Progress

Aereo has been beset by a legal onslaught from broadcast networks. But even if it wins that fight, it still has to overcome more-pedestrian issues, like making sure it can pay for the electricity it needs, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. While each of the company's tiny antennas only use five to six watts of power, it quickly adds up. For example, if the company were to hit its goal of 350,000 subscribers in New York, it would need nearly 2 megawatts of power, which could cost about $2 million per year. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here.

By TVNewsCheck | October 29, 2013 | 8:15 a.m. ET.
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Comments (7)

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Gregg Palermo says:

October 29, 2013 at 8:52 am

I did the math, it’s only 48 cents per month per sub. Hardly a deal breaker.

    Wagner Pereira says:

    October 29, 2013 at 12:09 pm

    Agree 48 cents per month per sub is not a deal breaker. Bigger question is can the building in NYC that Aereo is in, close to the transmission site, handle that type of power requirement. Furthermore, if everyone actually has their own “receiver”, then the power will be much more than 5 to 6 watts per unit. A Slingbox with a built in ATSC tuner uses 42 watts.

    mike tomasino says:

    October 29, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    An iView 3500STB operates at around 5 watts. 6 watts if you’re recording to a hard drive. Therefore, I could see that it could be done.

Keith ONeal says:

October 29, 2013 at 4:58 pm

Makes you wonder what the average monthly electric bill for a full power TV Station is.

Keith ONeal says:

October 29, 2013 at 4:59 pm

Makes you wonder what the average monthly electric bill for Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks is.

Wagner Pereira says:

October 29, 2013 at 9:56 pm

Try reading the article before commenting as it puts it in perspective of how much power 2 Megawatts is.