• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 8, 2013

News Corp. COO Chase Carey caused a stir Monday by suggesting Fox may move away from the traditional broadcast model if the Aereo service is allowed to continue operating.

His comments at the NAB conference prompted him to issue a follow-up statement saying that Aereo is “pirating our broadcast signal."

Carey added: “We are committed to broadcasting under a business model where programmers receive fair compensation from parties that want to redistribute our product, while continuing to make our product available for free to individual consumers that want to access our signal."

Carey has led a charge to give the Fox network a dual-revenue stream, where ad dollars are supplemented by carriage fees. Aereo’s business model looks to be able to skirt the retrans consent payments. Carey stated that Fox could turn Fox into a pay channel of some sort, but would do so in “collaboration with both our content partners and affiliates.”

So far, courts have not taken action to shutter the Aereo service, which streams live broadcast and other content to digital devices and offers DVR functionality. Fox and the other Big Four networks suing Aereo would now seem to have an uphill battle to close it via litigation.

“We will continue to aggressively pursue our rights in the courts, as well as pursue all relevant political avenues, and we believe we will prevail,” Carey stated.

Aereo operates in the New York market and has said it plans to expand to more than 20 more this year.

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