• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 5, 2013

Everybody loves a TV renegade -- because they can stir the pot and give consumers and TV business partners something to talk about. If not, they can always use that information as leverage.

Such is the case with Aereo -- and, to a lesser extent, Dish Network. So what happens if your favorite TV renegades join forces? Dish and Aereo are reportedly having business conversations.

Dish Network had been involved in a number of testy blackouts with all kinds of TV content owners, broadcast as well as cable. Then it came up with its new Hopper device, complete with that AutoHop function that allows for massive deleting of broadcasters’ primetime commercials.

Aereo, the internet-based service, wants to offer cut-rate TV packages to consumers, chiefly because it says it doesn't have to pay for broadcast signals. In recent major news, an appellate court said Aereo’s technology did not violate copyright laws.

Imagine if Dish Network got its hands on Aereo’s technology– the mini-digital "antennas" that allow Aereo to offer lower-priced consumer TV packages?

On the day of Aereo's big court win, Dish Network must have been counting up the millions it could save on retransmission fees. So too must have been other cable, satellite and telco distributors.

Right now, Dish Network is looking to stop legal action from broadcasters that want more information about "Aereo's communications with Dish" and "actual, contemplated, considered, or proposed' business arrangements between Aereo and Dish.

Broadcasters losing out to a small player like Aereo represents a bigger issue, naturally. Broadcasters have been feeling flush from threcent years of retransmission money from TV distributors. Now they could get a setback from one of the biggest distributors in the land -- Dish network, with some 15 million subscribers -- if it was to lose that carriage revenue.

First with AutoHop, and now with Aereo, TV network executives must be asking themselves what next bit of technology will look to take away some of their traditional revenue.