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A streaming service called Locast is trying to revive the dream of Aereo – the legally defeated company that allows you to broadcast TV channels like NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox for a monthly subscription – by experimenting with a different legal approach: give to the whole thing far away for free.
Locast, which is highlighted in The New York Times Nowadays, is a non-profit organization and believes that the non-profit organization status allows it to take advantage of an exemption from copyright law that allows television networks to retransmit freely . The law provides an exemption for non-profit organizations, to the extent that they make no profit.
The service was launched last year and is currently operational in seven cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Denver. Locast is forbidden by law to broadcast outside areas that have a physical antenna, but if you are in one of the supported regions, you can sign up now and start listening to local channels from your computer. your phone or your Roku.
The broadcast television networks do not want services such as Locast. In 2014, a group consisting of Disney, NBC, Fox and CBS sued the Supreme Court for the withdrawal of Aereo, which was broadcasting free live television to its paying subscribers. Aereo claimed that its service was legal because it had installed a new antenna for each subscriber. The Supreme Court stated that the distinction was of little importance, since Aereo was still broadcasting something for which it did not have the license. Aereo went bankrupt shortly thereafter.
For the time being, broadcasters have not sued Locast, according to the Time. This may be because they do not want to find the answer to Locast's legality if they do not have to. the Time reports that Locast has raised only $ 10,000 in donations and that it is otherwise funded by a high interest loan contracted by its founder. If the service does not get more support quickly, it seems that Locast is running out of money.
A victory in Locast's courts would mean that the service and similar services would expand in popularity and use, thereby reducing the value of the streaming services of the broadcasting networks. A victory is not guaranteed, however. Although Locast seems to have a solid legal foundation, no one seems to have checked whether the copyright exemption applies when a signal is retransmitted over the Internet. We contacted Locast for a comment.
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