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New York City-based Aereo gave Denver a whole new way of watching television this month. Aereo, through an antenna that lives in the cloud, allows its users to watch and record television over the Internet.
So far Aereo can be accessed in nine cities, including Denver, Chicago, Boston, Houston and Miami. Virginia Lam, Aereo’s VP of Communications & Government Relations, said the team chooses their coverage cities based on the area’s mobile device and broadband penetration as well as city demographics. Denver passed in those areas, and the fact that it is a budding startup hub was just one more factor that Lam said Aereo liked about Denver.
“Denver area is a growing, young, tech-savvy metropolitan area,” Lam said.
Since Aereo was founded by Chet Kanojia back in 2012, Lam said they have had exceptional growth mainly because people are so excited about the new technology. Aereo has relied mostly on word of mouth, and many of their users have served as evangelists: “The growth has been organic without a lot of investment in marketing,” Lam said.
Aereo’s quick expansion has been causing quite a stir with big broadcasters and cable companies (they’re currently having a little tiff with the NFL and MLB). But when it comes to competition, Lam said the Aereo team believes the competition helps the industry.
“We welcome competition because that helps increase innovation and improves choices for consumers,” Lam said.
Even though Aereo is very new to the television industry, Lam said an early picture of their customer segment is starting to show.
“We didn’t know what to expect because the technology is so different than anything out there. Right now the main users are in their forties or younger, they are tech savvy, they own a mobile device, and are accustomed to using other technologies.”
To keep its competitive edge and its status as “the easiest way to record and watch TV,” Aereo is currently compatible with more than nine different devices. Looking into their future, Aereo has plans to soon launch in 21 more cities.