After confirming Friday that it was out of capacity in New York City, Aereo announced this morning that it’s antenna and cloud-based TV service would launch in San Antonio on Feb. 19.
On Friday, Aereo CEO and founder Chet Kanojia confirmed on his Twitter account that the company was out of capacity in the New York City area, which is where the service first launched.
Due to the capacity crunch, Aereo wasn’t able to sign up new customers ahead of the Super Bowl yesterday, and the Sochi Olympics are just around the corner. In his Twitter post, Kanojia said Aereo would “reopen as we get more capacity deployed.”
“We’re fortunate that Aereo continues to experience strong growth across all our markets,” said Aereo spokeswoman Virginia Lam. “Our team has been working overtime to add more capacity in our existing markets. As soon as additional capacity is added, new consumers will be notified that they can sign up and create an Aereo account.”
The Lone Star launch includes a 22 county area across Texas. Programming in the San Antonio area will be comprised of 30-over-the-air channels, including KSAT (ABC), WOAI (NBC), KENS (CBS), KABB (Fox), KMYS (CW) and KLRN (PBS); special interest channels MeTV, LiveWell, Create, JCTC, Trinity Broadcasting, Qubo and Smile of a Child (children’s programming) and Zuus Country; and Spanish-language channels UniMás, UniVision, Telemundo and Exitos TV. In addition, consumers will also have the ability to add Bloomberg Television.
The latest launch will be on the heels of the Supreme Court agreeing to decide on whether Aereo can offer live television broadcasts over the Internet without paying fees to broadcasters. Last month Aereo secured $34 million in its third round of funding.
Aereo said more launches would be forthcoming this year.
Last year Aereo announced its plan to roll out its service in 22 cities across the nation. Aereo’s service is currently available to residents in the following markets: New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Salt Lake City, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Cincinnati and Baltimore.
Aereo membership starts at $8 per month, for access to its cloud-based antenna/DVR technology and 20 hours of DVR storage. For an additional $4 per month, consumers can upgrade their membership and receive 60 hours of DVR storage for a total of $12 per month. Consumers who join Aereo get their first of month of access for free.
