TiVo said Friday that it has received bankruptcy court approval to buy some assets of Aereo, an online startup that offered a cheaper alternative to cable TV.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Aereo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, less than five months after an unfavorable ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The company backed by media mogul Barry Diller allowed people to watch and record broadcast TV online for $8 a month on tablets, phones and other gadgets. Unlike Hulu and other online video services, Aereo offered live streaming of broadcast channels.
The Supreme Court ruled in the summer of 2014 that Aereo had been operating like a cable TV company, meaning that unless it paid broadcasters licensing fees, it was in violation of copyright law. Aereo suspended its operations three days later.
TiVo Inc. President and CEO Tom Rogers said in a statement Friday that the San Jose, California-based company will acquire Aereo's trademarks and customer lists. He said that it will help Tivo serve consumers that "want access to both broadcast television and over the top content."
Tivo's products include equipment to record TV shows for later viewing.
TiVo said that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approved the transaction earlier this week as the last step in the sales process of Aereo's patents, hardware and other assets.
Shares of Tivo slipped 2 cents to $10.77 in morning trading. Its shares are down more than 15 percent over the past year.
California governor signs law to protect children from social media addiction
California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday.
California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children's access to social media, but they have faced challenges in court.
The California law will take effect in a state home to some of the largest technology companies in the world. Similar proposals have failed to pass in recent years, but Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law in 2022 barring online platforms from using users' personal information in ways that could harm children. It is part of a growing push in states across the country to try to address the impacts of social media on the well-being of children.
"Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children — isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom said in a statement. "With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits."
The law bans platforms from sending notifications without permission from parents to minors between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, when children are typically in school. The legislation also makes platforms set children's accounts to private by default.
Opponents of the legislation say it could inadvertently prevent adults from accessing content if they cannot verify their... Read More