The U.S. Supreme Court’s granting of cert for...

The U.S. Supreme Court’s granting of cert for the Aereo case is a “positive” for broadcasters because they initially asked the court to take up the case and it brings the matter closer to being resolved, said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors. If broadcasters win, the high court proceeding will end with either Aereo’s being forced to shut down or its being allowed to remain in operation while paying broadcasters for content, she said. If Aereo has to pay broadcasters, “there will likely be wide-ranging implications regarding the definition of MVPDs [multichannel video programming distributors], which could end up including over-the-top technologies/players,” Ryvicker said. An Aereo win would not be “a fundamental risk” because most retransmission and program carriage agreements are already in place and have long terms, she said. Sports leagues would likely move their content to cable only and broadcasters could program their channels to give the best content to retrans paying MVPDs while sending lower quality content over the airwaves, hurting Aereo’s longevity, Ryvicker said. Since the Supreme Court case concerns only the broadcasters’ preliminary injunction against Aereo, it’s not the final word in the matter, Ryvicker said. As the case proceeds at the district court level, “there will likely be greater discovery and tests of Aereo’s technology,” Ryvicker said.