Killer Diller. (Photo: flickr.com/techcrunch, by Dave Getzschman)

Hey, look: It's some actual news out of CES, which has absolutely nothing to do with Evernote-integrated refrigerators! New York-based, Barry Diller-backed TV-streaming service Aereo has been teasing an expansion for some time now, and in a speech today from CEO Chet Kanojia, the company made its move.

The service will roll out to 22 new cities, including Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C, starting in the late spring. Aereo will continue its "Try for Free" program in each of the cities, so would-be cord-cutters can get a taste, but it'll be invitation-only at first. 

To fund this attempt at world conquest, the company also announced it's closed a $38 million Series B led by IAC and Highland Capital. Get money, ya'll. Previous investors including FirstMark Capital, First Round Capital, High Line Venture Partners and "select individuals" also threw invested. The round was actually oversubscribed, Mr. Kanojia told Betabeat by phone from CES. Aereo was aiming for $30 million, but when financiers came clamoring, he said, "Alright." The additional capital will be used to build up infrastructure, marketing and cover some considerable legal bills. "We decided that we were gonna go into expansion mode and it came together very very quickly."

The cities were chosen based on population density, how many households get over-the-air broadcasts, and the age of the population. Age is a factor, he noted, because the majority of Aereo's customers tend to be 35 and under. "It's a great fit for their lifestyle," he enthused. "This is not your dad’s cable TV." Customers "use it as it fits their life."

Expansion plans were also related to proximity to Aereo's homebase. The headcount has doubled since our feature about Aereo in May, but it's still a small team, so they wanted to be able to, "knock off as much ground cover as we can in a two hour flight," adding, "L.A. has never been a TV town." Cities that get the service include: Boston, Miami, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Cleveland, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, Birmingham, Providence, and Madison, WI.

All told, that new ground covers 97 million new potential customers. If you look at the younger demographic in those market, it could mean 30 million people, said Mr. Kanojia. Although he declined to disclose subscriber numbers, he did say usage numbers--the metric Aereo focuses on--is "extremely strong."

Of course, this depends on Aereo clearing all its present legal hurdles. Sure, they managed to avoid a preliminary injunction, but broadcasters are far from done fighting. We asked Mr. Kanojia whether her expected more lawsuits from local affiliates in new cities? "I don’t know who can sue us or not," he said with characteristic nonchalance. "Frankly I'm not too worried or focused on that." After all, if you start "obsessing" over every incumbent, that hardly leaves time for convincing people to cut the cord.

This post has been updated to include our interview with Mr. Kanojia. 

How I Live-Streamed Your Mother

A magical thing happened at IAC's headquarters this morning. A startup called Aereo displayed the most compelling argument for cord-cutting we've heard in awhile. It came in the form of a thumbnail-sized HD antenna. Sign up with Aereo and users get the right to license their own antenna, which are stored in a local warehouse. Then, log on via any web-enabled device (smartphones, iPads, even AppleTV) and ta-da, members can access major networks like CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, CW, and PBS, as well as other local channels. Better yet, you also have the ability store up to 40 hours of programming on their remote DVR.

"No cords or cable required," the company's press release says pointedly. The service is limited to New York City right now, but only costs $12 a month. Throw in a Netflix account, Hulu, and you're probably good to go. Happy Valentine's Day, Dying Cable Industry!

Aereo (formerly called Bamboom Labs) also anounced a $20.5 million series A round led by IAC.

The startup previously raised $4.5 million. Existing investors, including FirstMark Capital, First Round Capital, High Line Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners and individual investors also participated in the series A. Along with the funding,  IAC chairman and Fox network creator Barry Diller joined Aereo's board.

As Mr. Diller told Media Decoder, Aereo's device represents a significant step in wrenching content from the “closed cable-broadcast-satellite circle.”:

“Anyone will tell you, whether it’s Amazon or Hulu or Apple, that they can’t get enough programming that people want to see to –so to speak, ‘break the chain’ — because all of the programming is controlled within the circle,” Mr. Diller said in a telephone interview.

Aereo founder and CEO Chet Kanojia, formerly of Navic Networks, seems up to the task. In addition to selling Navic to Microsoft in 2008, he also completed "doctoral-level work on the commercial applications of artificial intelligence." (Hmm, perhaps that DVR could use a recommendation engine?)

The company says membership is subject to availability, but beginning March 14th, members will be eligible for a 30-day free trial. For now, it's just working on iOS devices, but Aereo says in the next six weeks "anything that's web-enabled" will work. Please excuse us, we have to go sign up and see whether this new toy actually works in the bowels of Brooklyn.

Who's afraid of the big bad web?

A new fashion start-up launching in September has secured backing from some of the biggest names in angel investing on the East and West coasts. Edition01 has raised around $500,000 from David Tisch, Ken Lerer and Ron Conway's SV Angel to build an e-commerce site focusing on capsule collections: limited edition runs of products by designers like Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Narciso Rodriguez. Additional investors include Kal Vepuri, High Line Venture Partners, the Sagrera family, Sterling Equities, Joanne Wilson and Alex Zubillaga.

"Sites like Gilt have created a great business selling items with a limited time period. We are aiming to do a similar thing by having a very limited inventory," says co-founder Rishi Khanna. "The idea to build a best in breed capsule sale site that leverages social commerce and online ordering."

Traditionally, says co-founder Jessica Wilpon Kamel, who created Edition01 with co-founder Estefania Lacayo in October of 2010, high-end fashion designers have been afraid of the internet. "Even today many of them are going in the opposite direction, pulling their merchandise offline because they are afraid it will dilute their brand. We want to show that doesn't have to be the case."

The start-up had been looking to raise a little north of $1 million, but found an early revenue stream through a partnership with Salam International, which secured them a licensing deal for a sponsored pop-up store in high-end fashion mall in Doha, Quatar. The focus now is on making a big splash with the September debut and giving customers a high-end shopping experience online that matches up with the designer brands.

There is a burgeoning network, says Ms. Kamel, for fashion entrepreneurs to connect with venture capitalists who traditionally have focused on the web. Through Ben Lerer and friends at Gilt the team from Edition01 was able to take meetings with numerous New York investors and eventually secure a round from a very diverse group. While Betabeat doesn't have an informed opinion on whether or not this start-up will succeed (we don't know Donna Karen from Don King), the overlap of fashion and technology is certainly one strength that will help New York to compete with Silicon Valley in the coming decade.