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Locast stated on its official website that the service is ending its operations, effective immediately, and makes mention of how the company “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling. The company had suspended its service following another court ruling in early September.
Locast was a non-profit streaming service that streamed local TV channels to users across the United States. It used its non-profit status to circumvent copyright law and retransmit television signals, but this drew the ire of the major TV networks. The service was “free,” although a prompt would appear asking users to purchase a membership every 15 minutes or get booted back to the main screen.
In 2019, the four major networks—CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox—sued Locast, claiming the service violated copyright law and needed a retransmission license to stream their local channels. Locast defended itself by saying it was only streaming a signal that was already free.
