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Rod asked: “I was recently at a State Fair and saw some boxes that looked like Apple TV, however they were touting: Watch anything at all you’d like, any time of the day including pay per view sports, recent movies, and so forth. And they said it was perfectly legal. This can’t be so, but I know that you know the answer. How ’bout it?”
There’s no such box. Or, if there is, it’s illegal and will be shut down very shortly.
Of course, it’s possible that what you were looking at was a box that would connect to your existing cable or satellite service, and you’d be watching the content you were already paying for.
Your question implies that they told you all this content would be free, but perhaps it’s not? Perhaps that was the bit they didn’t explain in the product brochure?
Here’s the bottom line: The people producing content want to get paid. They will go after and shut down anyone who is distributing their content without paying them for it–without exception. It might take them a while to notice a new player, but notice them they will, and then your shiny new box will blink out of existence.
If you want a more specific answer about a specific device, we’d need to know the device’s name and who makes it. We’d be happy to comment further, then.
Did you get your fill of fried food, while you were browsing at the fair? Save us one of those fried candy bars, would you?