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One Month In, Locast.org Gains Thousands of Users who are Streaming Local News, Sports and Programming in NYC
Unsued, Unbowed, Unrepentant-- Locast.org Giving the Airwaves Back to the People
New York, NY(26 Feb 2018)
The Non-Profit Sports Fans Coalition NY (SFCNY) today marked the one-month anniversary since the launch of Locast.org in early January, which so far has seen thousands of New Yorkers trying the service and tens of thousands of Americans visiting the website, hoping that someday Locast.org will offer local broadcast channels in their communities.
Locast.org allows viewers in the five boroughs to watch local broadcast stations live over the Internet at little to no cost. Locast.org currently streams 14 local New York broadcast stations, including WCBS, WABC, WPIX, WNYW and WNBC, the broadcast home of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Since its launch, Locast.org has implemented several service upgrades including a new channel guide that lists upcoming local programming along with better channel-surfing capability and spectacular high definition, full screen picture quality. In addition, apps for Roku and Android are currently in development with plans to launch them in the near future.
Locast.org operates under the copyright statute that allows non-profit translator services to rebroadcast local stations without receiving a copyright license from the broadcaster. The statute (17 U.S.C. 111(a)(5)) states a non-profit organization may retransmit a local broadcast signal and even charge a fee to cover the cost of operations. Locast.org operates similarly to non-profit “translator” stations that receive an over-the-air local broadcast signal and retransmit it to boost the signal strength and expand the availability of local broadcast programming throughout a local market.
“Broadcasters use licenses worth billions of dollars and got those licenses for free from the American public," said David Goodfriend, Chairman of SFCNY and Founder of Locast.org. “The Locast.org streaming solution lets viewers watch local broadcast stations online without paying excessive fees, and so far the reception has just been incredible. While I never would want to encourage people to watch TV at work, if someone wanted to check out the Olympics during the day, they could use their smart phone or computer to check out WNBC's Olympics coverage using Locast.org.”
Non-profit translator stations have perpetually helped complete the broadcasters’ public interest mission to provide access to their local broadcast programming. That is the same public interest mission Locast.org has brought to the New York media market—with a 21st century, online digital solution. For more information on Sports Fans Coalition NY and to sign up and become a #cordcutter, visit www.locast.org and follow Locast.org on Facebook and Twitter @LocastOrg.
About Sports Fans Coalition New York
Sports Fans Coalition - New York (SFCNY) is a New York-based nonprofit, fan-advocacy group formed in 2017. It is the first local chapter of SFC, which was founded in 2009 by Chairman David Goodfriend. SFCNY aims to work with local and state governments to ensure that New York-based sports teams remain friendly to the fan.