Translation: Aereo’s innovation forced the networks’ hands. This is why good IP law—read, the kind that fosters innovation instead of killing it—is such a big deal. The networks would never have done this if not backed into a corner by a little startup that found a way to mash together existing technologies to do something new, and in a way that bit the networks.

The New York Times reports that ABC will become the first network to live stream its local programming to users of its Watch ABC app starting this week. Beginning in New York and Philadelphia, the…