Barry Diller: If Aereo Doesn't Win in Court, It's 'Finished'

Win or go home.

That's the situation Aereo faces in an upcoming court case according to Barry Diller, the media mogul whose company IAC backs the streaming television startup.

'If we lose, we're finished,' Diller said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

The bluntness of Diller's stance highlights the stakes at play. A victory for Aereo would be the ultimate validation of the legality of the company's model as well as a major precedent for future cases involving rebroadcasting and cloud storage.

If Aereo loses, the company has little chance to survive even if it attempts to go the traditional route of paying broadcasters, Diller said.

'We could probably pay retransmission consent dollars if we could make a deal with broadcasters,' he said. 'But the value proposition would go out of the game because Aereo is a low-cost method of receiving over the air broadcasting. That's the platform.'

Aereo has faced legal challenges since its early days. A group of broadcasters sued the steaming TV provided in March 2012 but lost almost every case except in a state court in Utah. After a loss in a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Supreme Court said it would hear the case.

Aereo may face a tough road forward even if it goes win. CBS CEO Les Moonves recently said an Aereo victory in court would force his company to explore the development of its own streaming service. As of now, Aereo has few competitors.

Aereo has shown few signs of slowing despite the legal challenges. The company raised $34 million in January and has continued expanding into new markets.

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