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“By defining the services as cable companies, they provide a path to finally change the way consumers get their television and cut the cord without losing out on key programming,” he said.

Mr. David pointed out that by classifying Aereo as a cable company the court in effect overturned a previous decision which outlawed a similar service called Ivi. Ivi delivered broadcast television over the Internet and sort to pay a minimal royalty fee for the privilege.

The court at that time said that Ivi was not a cable company. Mr. David said that FilmOn is finalizing the certification process for qualification for this fee and that the company will soon be able to provide local network TV service in the 18 cities it is active in.

About 40% of pay-TV homes said they would likely cancel their TV service and replace it with Aereo if it was available in their market, according to a study from Centris Marketing Science. Another 13% were undecided. Centris believes this suggests “even greater conversion as consumers learn more about the service.”

The vast majority of Americans – 95 percent – still watch television using traditional cable or satellite options, according to Nielsen. But the number of households that choose to opt out of cable or satellite TV is on the rise, from 2 million in 2007 to 5 million in 2013, Nielsen’s data show.

“This scares the bejesus out of the cable and satellite people,” said Jim Barry, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association in Arlington, Va. “I think it’s going to change the business model.”

A main driver behind the high cost of cable and satellite in recent years is the expensive license fees networks pay sports leagues to broadcast their games. The cost gets passed on to consumers to pay for the “bundles” of channels they get with their cable satellite subscriptions, whether they plan to watch sports or not.