A federal judge waived off an emergency motion from Aereo, as the TV-streaming service fights to be officially designated as a cable company following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that said its services violate the Copyright Act.
Aereo, which suspended its streaming operations after the Supreme Court’s ruling, reportedly told the court Thursday that it is currently “bleeding to death” as it sits in limbo. The company was told by the U.S. Copyright Office last month that it is not a cable company, ruling that retransmitting broadcast networks’ content over the internet does not qualify Aereo for the type of copyright license that is available to cable companies. However, the Copyright Office also said at the time that it would not take action until U.S. courts had clarified Aereo’s status.
On Thursday, a federal appeals court refused to grant Aereo an injunction to determine whether or not the company could be licensed as a cable system and Aereo quickly filed an emergency request to force an expedited decision on its status. But, federal judge Alison Nathan struck that emergency motion from the record on Friday, claiming that Aereo “has jumped the gun in filing, without authorization, its motion for emergency consideration of preliminary injunction issues upon remand,” according to a court filing.
According to Bloomberg, in a filing that has since been stricken from court record, Aereo had told the court: “Unless it is able to resume operations in the immediate future, the company will likely not survive.”