Chet Kanojia, the chief executive of the internet TV service Aereo, on Saturday announced a “pause” in operations, in reaction to the supreme court ruling against the company on Wednesday.

Aereo service was scheduled to cease at 11.30am ET. Kanojia concluded an open letter to customers by appealing for public support and saying: “Our journey is far from done.”

Aereo, which is available in US cities including New York, Boston and Houston, allows customers to receive broadcasts via a digital antenna, store them on a DVR and stream them to various devices. Backed by the media mogul Barry Diller, the company offers subscriptions starting at $8 a month, a fraction of charged levied by the cable companies which carry the broadcasts in question.

Broadcasters including ABC, CBS and Fox took their case against Aereo to the supreme court after an attempt to have the service banned was rejected by an appeals court.

The supreme court justices voted 6-3 against the earlier ruling, effectively saying that Aereo should be treated like any cable company. Therefore, unless it pays broadcasters licensing fees for offering TV stations to tablets, phones and computers, it violates copyright law.

On Saturday, in a letter to customers, Kanojia said: “On Wednesday, the United States supreme court reversed a lower court decision in favour of Aereo, dealing a massive setback to consumers.

“As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower court. We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps. You will be able to access your cloud-based antenna and DVR only until 11.30am ET today.”

Kanojia added: “The spectrum that the broadcasters use to transmit over the air programming belongs to the American public and we believe you should have the right to access that live programming, whether your antenna sits on the roof of your home, on top of your television or in the cloud.”