20 Facts About Locast

Locast was an American non-profit streaming television service that allowed users to view live streams of over-the-air television stations.

Locast was similar to Aereo, which operated on a commercial basis with users paying to lease individual antennas placed in nearby warehouses.

Locast was intended as a test case for the proposition that a service of this nature would be legal if operated on a non-profit basis.

Locast cited an exception in United States copyright law that allows retransmission of television signals by non-commercial entities at no charge, aside from that required to maintain the service's operations.

The networks maintained that Locast gave the carriers an unfair negotiating advantage during carriage disputes that prevented them from retransmitting local programming.

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Locast filed a countersuit, arguing that its service complied with the aforementioned exceptions and accusing the networks of colluding to limit the availability of their programming via free-to-air means in order to protect the pay television industry.

Locast suspended operations and was ordered to do so permanently.

Locast sourced its signals from antennas in each market it served.

Locast was accessible via web browsers, Android and iOS apps, some set-top boxes, as well as Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku, Vizio SmartCast TVs and Android TV devices, and could be cast to larger screens using AirPlay and Google Cast.

Locast conceived of Locast while lecturing at Georgetown University Law Center on the demise of Aereo, which offered over-the-air television signals via streaming without negotiating with broadcasters for the privilege as required by the retransmission consent provision of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act.

In January 2018, Locast went online in New York as a service of the Sports Fans Coalition, a non-profit advocacy group chaired by Goodfriend.

Locast subsequently expanded the service to other U S media markets, as well as Puerto Rico.

In May 2019, New York Times reporter Edmund Lee wrote that Goodfriend's stated intention to quickly expand Locast nationwide "is basically a dare to the networks to take legal action against him.

On September 27, 2019, Locast answered the claim and filed a countersuit citing the aforementioned exception.

Locast argued that it did not obtain any "direct or indirect commercial advantage" from the service, and that the networks were "[using] their copyrights improperly to construct and protect a pay-TV model that forces consumers to forgo over-the-air programming or to pay cable, satellite, and online providers for access to programming that was intended to be free.

Locast considered these tactics a violation of the statutory mandate for broadcasters to operate in the public interest.

Locast accused the networks of "threatening business retaliation and baseless legal claims against any current or prospective donors, supporters, or business partners", specifically alleging that YouTube TV had been threatened in this manner.

The defendants in their letter asserted that Locast's services were exempt from copyright liability because they met five conditions: they were secondary retransmissions, not made by a cable company, made by a non-profit organization, without the intent of commercial advantage, and without charge other than to defray costs.

Locast noted that Locast donations were used not just for system maintenance and operations, but for expansion of the service into new media markets.

Broadcasters called the ruling "a victory for copyright law, vindicating our claim that Locast is illegally infringing copyrights in broadcast television content in violation of federal law.