Locast - Free Local TV Service - Sued by TV Networks

Locast, a non profit that rebroadcasts local TV stations over the internet, is being sued by ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox. Locast operates on an FCC loophole that allows non-profit translators to rebroadcast commercial TV stations without compensation to the networks. If they are operating in accordance to the law why are they being sued?

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[CJ-rfjm]

Greedy buggers always find a way to screw things up for others.

[richardcranium]

if the networks had mandated the local affiliates use more power and repeaters for the ota people there would have been no need for locast to begin with. unfortunately the fcc is in bed with the people they are meant to regulate.

[MattCoversTech]

Locast itself was founded by a lawyer, David Goodfriend, who teaches at Georgetown University, lectures at George Washington University, was a media legal advisor to an FCC chairman, served as Deputy Staff Secretary to former president Bill Clinton, was a professional staff member on a couple of congressional committees, AND won a fight against the NFL that made the FCC drop their blackout rule after 40 years. I don't think Locast is coming up short for a good lawyer. I covered the lawsuit in more detail on the latest episode of my podcast, Thompson's Top Stories in Tech available via any podcast app or on my web page mattbthompson dot com.

[JimHoltan]

Excellent! Best explanation I’ve seen of this issue. Clear and concise. Why can’t the industry be this clear?

[swinde]

This makes no sense to me. If anything the over air local stations should have to pay the cable networks and the re-transmitting services for extending their coverage in their local area without any capital expenditures at all. More coverage should command higher revenues from their local advertisers. What am I missing here?

[stevejohnson]

If the broadcasters were truly working in the public interest, they would want more viewers who would buy from their advertisers. That's largely how U.S. commercial TV got founded. The system we have today is broken and unbalanced.

[OM_MO]

In Mexico, we also have a similar sort-of loophole, it's called social concessions. Although on TV there are very few of these now (about 5 went off the air in the past decade) and only 1 rebroadcast a commercial network, on radio a lot of entrepreneurs linked to comercial radio networks, have acquired several of such stations to rebroadcast their own commercial programming.

About TV, Mexico adopted a Must carry/must offer policy. This policy has made things tough for pay TV providers as many relied on OTA networks' fees for their profits. By law, all pay TV providers nationwide, either cable, satellite or IPTV, are required to rebroadcast for free (as in no part of the monthly fees includes the cost of OTA channels) and without any kind of reserves, all the commercial networks that cover at least 50% of the national territory plus the networks produced by the federal government or their dependencies (the so-called public networks). In total, they have to rebroadcast 7 commercial networks and 9 "public" (1 of the "public" networks not even being broadcast OTA). Local cable and IPTV providers are also required to rebroadcast all the TV stations in the area with no excuses, no cuts and no hidden fees to cover them and also have some clauses about subchannels, in fact, 2 of the 7 national commercial networks are only available as subchannels. Also, they are not allowed to charge any broadcaster covered by the policy for carrying their channels.

On the other hand, we have no non-for-profit free access online rebroadcasters like Locast, any attempts at doing so through online services are quickly crushed, we have to rely on the networks' own streaming (if there is such).

[daveperry]

I be never had cable I believe in free tv like it should be!

[skykitchen]

I recently started my donation to Locast, and like the service a lot! Their commercials ceased right after my account was activated. I live 125 miles north of San Francisco and cannot receive over the air digital channels of any kind. I have internet, but my cable company requires you to get their cable box and subscribe to their basic tier and with rental fees of their box it is almost $40.00 more a month and I cannot afford that. You would think that the local advertisers who use these channels would be grateful that their commercials can now be viewed by more potential customers. The greedy men in the three piece suits at the networks should be ashamed of themselves. I sincerely hope that Locast wins.

[raidernationcali]

You do God’s work my friend. I thank you.

[tbkulavik]

Just discovered Locast. Works great with my Amazon Fire Stick to get all the Chicago stations. Nice to use on cloudy days when reception is poor. You can also use Vanish VPN and use the change the zip code on he Vanish VPN and Fire Stick to get in all the markets on Locast.

[randywheeler]

The problem is not the networks, it's the station owners. It's Sinclair, Nextstar, Meredith, Tegna and others. ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, & NBC actually owns a small fraction of the stations in the USA.

[leejamestheliar]

I pretty much have to re set my " set " every day, sometimes 2 or more times.
And I don't even listen to it, just like a moving portrait on the wall to kinda see what is going on out there.
Thx. Young man, you are a regular thing for me.
Used to be in telecommunications.
Field engineering.
Not any

[journeyon]

Thanks for covering this story, Tyler. Meredith Corporation, a company that owns WFSB (CBS) channel 3 here in Connecticut, pulled the plug on Dish Network about three weeks ago looking for more money. Dish Network is truly putting up a fight with this company so that any increase in costs won't be passed down to their customers. So heed Tyler's warning on these companies. I could only put up with a few days of not being able to watch channel three so I bought a flat indoor antenna (Clear TV) and, surprisingly, it picked up about thirty channels. Now I can finally say goodbye to local channels on Dish Network and save myself $12.99 a month. Eventually, I'll put up an outdoor chimney-mount antenna with a rotor so that I can pull channels in even stronger. All of the channels I need to have are in the green and yellow category which means I probably won't need a large antenna or an amplifier.

[gregb]

This guy that owns LOCAST is a ex FCC lawyer...enough said!!

[billybassman]

Locals should be able to be rebroadcasted free of charge. What difference does it make to them if you can get it off an antenna or a rebroadcast? It's just corporate greed.

[writerpatrick]

There was a similar site in Canada a couple decades ago and they were forced to shut down. This was before the streaming of network TV shows.

[darrenanton]

Rebroadcast fees need to be OUTLAWED! that's part of the reason why there prices are so damn high, that's also why I told them to go fly a dam kite!

[andreanisperos]

Technical support here. Locast app is only available on some parts of the America. DTV and Nexstars still under contract nego.

[AMStationEngineer]

, ,, and when time comes for each individual station's license renewal, they'll file a brief with the balance of the filing, most likely labeled - "for the good of our viewing community", containing documents stating that the viewership enjoys wholesale gains in their combined quality of life, because of the good works performed by the station.

The point at which Locast should direct their volly, is this: "please, define the value of that which you speak"; and do-so in a point-by-point, by counterpoint challenge. What, if anything, is the value of network terrestrial broadcasting? Force independent surveying of the prospective viewership. Challenge them to meet a "generalized minimum signal standard"; in areas which fall below par, require them to license and install a repeater, or translator. (they "ain't" cheap) Locast is actually their savior, to a slight degree.