Aereo Apologizes To Customers Affected By Service Outage During Golden Globes

Aereo, the streaming TV startup backed by media mogul Barry Diller, has apologized for a brief service outage tonight. The outage only lasted about an hour, but was especially unfortunate because it coincided with the Golden Globes.

“Aereo experienced a partial outage in New York City tonight, which impacted a small group of users who were unable to access their accounts. Our engineers have worked to resolve the issue. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience and encourage any Aereo members impacted by the outage to reach out to support@aereo.com,” Virginia Lam, Aereo’s VP of communications and government relations, told us.

The outage struck Aereo’s largest market, New York City, where it launched in 2012.

Though brief, the outage was another challenge in a busy week for the startup. Two days ago the Supreme Court decided to hear the ongoing legal battle between Aereo and broadcast networks. At the center of the dispute is the fact that Aereo takes OTA signals out of the air through miniature antennas and streams content over the Internet to any device for a low monthly fee. If successful, Aereo could potentially upend the current TV/cable subscription model even more than on-demand streaming video platforms like Netflix.

So far, Aereo has won appellate cases in Boston and New York, but networks have refused to give up. The Supreme Court’s ruling will not only decide once and for all if Aereo’s operations are legal, but have potentially far-reaching ramifications for the future of the online media industry.