Aereo Announces Expansion Plans for 22 More US Cities

Web TV service Aereo currently works only in New York City, but is planning to roll out its service to 22 more U.S. cities starting in the spring, thanks to a hot new injection of Series B financing, led by IAC and Highland Capital Partners (News - Alert) to fund the company’s rapid growth expansion plans.

Aereo’s expansion will now provide more than 97 million American consumers with more choice, flexibility and ability to access over-the-air broadcast television.

Speaking to Bloomberg, 70-year-old billionaire and backer of Aereo, Barry Diller, spoke out to say he was confident of the service's future. He explained that they were going to really start marketing and that within a year and a half, certainly by 2013, they’ll be in most major [U.S. cities].

Previous investors from Aereo’s Series A funding round, including First Mark Capital, First Round Capital, High Line Venture Partners and select individuals, also participated in the second round of financing.

The company has raised $63 million to date.

The 22 chosen cities are Boston, Miami, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Cleveland, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham (NC), Salt Lake City, Birmingham (AL), Providence (RI), and Madison (WI).

Aereo grabs over-the-air TV signals and routes them to users in real time over the Internet, so they can watch broadcast TV whenever and wherever they want. Aereo is currently supported on iPad, iPhone (News - Alert), Chrome, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Safari, Opera, AppleTV and Roku.

It also allows one to DVR shows for viewing at any time.

Barry Diller added that, “Free over the air television has been core to communications in the US since its beginning. Aereo is a superb technology allowing consumers to use the modern tools of the Internet to receive this, and other programming, with a great user interface and navigation that is easy and inexpensive. I continue to be excited by the possibilities and fully support its expansion.”

Today’s announcements were made by Aereo’s chief executive officer and founder, Chet Kanojia, at the Citi Global Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas. Aereo’s technology is simply one of the easiest, most convenient ways for consumers to access broadcast television.

Consumers, he says, want and deserve choice. "Watching television should be simple, convenient and rationally priced and that Aereo’s technology provides exactly that - choice, flexibility and a first-class experience that every consumer deserves."

Aereo might not last forever, but it sure is a pretty excellent option for people who hate cable.