Aereo announced this morning that Chicago was the next stop on its 22-city expansion project that was announced earlier this year.

Aereo’s antenna and cloud-based DVR video service is slated to launch in the Chicago area on Sept. 13. Comcast, which has a large presence in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, declined to comment on Aereo's deployment plan. 

“There’s no place like Chicago and we’re excited to be launching in this world-class city in September,” said Aereo CEO and founder Chet Kanojia. “Consumers want more choice and flexibility when it comes to how they watch television and the enthusiastic response to our technology from people across the country has been humbling.  At Aereo, we feel that we’ve built something meaningful for consumers and we’re proud of the work we’ve accomplished. However, there’s still much more to come as we continue our expansion into new cities throughout the summer and fall.”

Over-the-air networks that will be available for viewing in Chicago include: WLS-TV (ABC), WFLD-TV (FOX), WMAQ-TV (NBC), WBBM-TV (CBS) and WYCC (PBS), as well as other special interest and foreign language channels. In addition, consumers can also add Bloomberg Television.

Aereo’s service will be available to consumers residing in the following counties in Illinois: Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, La Salle, Lake, McHenry and Will counties and in Jasper, La Porte, Lake, Newton and Porter counties in Indiana.  

Aereo launched its streaming service last year in New York City and was promptly sued by major broadcast networks, including News Corp., Disney and NBCUniversal, for copyright infringement. Earlier this year, a federal court of appeals affirmed a federal district court’s earlier decision to deny broadcasters’ request for a preliminary injunction [1] against Aereo. 

In addition to New York, Aereo’s service is available to consumers residing in the Boston [2] and Atlanta [3] areas.

At the start of the year Aereo announced that it would be rolling out its service to 22 cities across the country. The cities slated for Aereo’s expansion were: Boston; Miami; Austin, Texas; Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Detroit; Denver; Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Tampa; Cleveland; Kansas City; Raleigh-­‐Durham, N.C.; Salt Lake City; Birmingham, Ala.; Providence, R.I; and Madison, Wis.

Aereo’s membership starts at $8 a month, which includes 20 hours of DVR storage. Users that pony up an additional $4 a month can get a total of 60 hours of DVR storage.