About the only thing Google's $35 Chromecast dongle can't do is let you watch live television, but that won't be the case for much longer. Starting on May 29, streaming television startup Aereo will release an updated version of its Android app that includes support for streaming live broadcast television shows to your Chromecast.
Let's rewind for a moment here. In case you hadn't heard, Aereo lets its customers watch over-the-air TV shows from a web browser thanks to a tiny antenna that captures the signals for storage on a remotely accessible server. That means you'll be able to binge catch and store all those episodes of Jeopardy from the comfort of... anywhere you can get a data connection, really. That Aereo would support Chromecast isn't a surprise -- CEO Chet Kanojia basically said as much at an investor conference last year -- but it helps fill a crucial gap in the Chromecast's content library.
Services like Netflix and Hulu Plus introduce a level of temporal distance to media that's not ideal for some. After all, some would argue part of the fun of watching live television is being able to dissect, debate and generally share the experience with everyone else watching at the same time.
But! There are caveats (aren't there always?). Aereo's sort of hanging in legal limbo for one -- it still works in about 10 major cities, but Its service has been shut down in Utah thanks to a preliminary injunction upheld by the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. That also means that Aereo's expansion in the region has basically ground to a halt. And let's not forget that the Supreme Court is set to hear the first oral arguments over claims that Aereo has infringed broadcaster copyrights in just a few weeks.
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