Aereo Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

It’s been a rough year for Aereo, the TV streaming service that was slapped down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. After failing to redefine itself as yet another cable provider, the company today announced that it would be filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.

“The U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively changed the laws that had governed Aereo’s technology, creating regulatory and legal uncertainty,” wrote Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia. “And while our team has focused its energies on exploring every path forward available to us, without that clarity, the challenges have proven too difficult to overcome.

“Accordingly, today, we filed for Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings.”

The good news for Aereo and fans of the company is that Chapter 11 is the less severe of the usual bankruptcy proceedings. Aereo will still attempt to operate while figuring out a way to pay back its creditors. Chapter 7, by contrast, is usually a company’s death knell as assets are sold off to pay creditors back at pennies on the dollar.

It’s not quite clear how the company will proceed after today, however. What, exactly, does Aereo do now that it can’t capture television content and rebroadcast it to users over the Internet? What service does it provide now?

It’ll be interesting to see what Aereo does next as it works through its bankruptcy proceedings. Stay tuned.

[Aereo Blog: The Next Chapter]