I know they have some LPTV stations in the Atlanta market, for example, but
only a few - they're even missing a few FP stations. I would assume that's
due to reception issues and / or just not having enough equipment to do all
channels.
The cost of adding all broadcast channels probably adds up. The cable system
I'm on basically phased out traditional CATV and moved to IP technology (they
are the telephone company too) and they told me that they have to have a
encoder for each channel - and it costs them about $1,700 each. That would
really add up for all broadcast stations and sub-channels.
Also, if you're in a market Locast has not added, you might get in contact with
them, provided you have tower space, good reception of channels, adequate
facilities and fiber connectivity.
Jon C. Moon
Ridgeline TV Channel 99
706-897-0872
www.ridgelinetv.net <http://www.ridgelinetv.net/>
On Jul 24, 2021, at 7:00 PM, craigf199 (Redacted sender "craigf199" for
DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Keith,
Thanks for the info. I assume they'll get to all markets sooner or later and
it would certainly be nice to know that they wouldn't be missing any stations
when they start.
Also, I wonder where they setup for reception of all the stations. It would
be nice to be able to host the site and maybe derive some extra income.
Best regards,
Craig
______________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Leitch <keith@xxxxxxxxx>
To: lptv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <lptv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sat, Jul 24, 2021 5:53 pm
Subject: [lptv] Re: FYI: Locast now in Pittsburgh
Hi,
Yes, Locast carries LPTVs. As with a lot of things, you have to ask the
right person to get carried.
Blessings,
Keith
Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
From: lptv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <lptv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
craigf199 <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2021 2:40 PM
To: lptv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lptv] Re: FYI: Locast now in Pittsburgh
Jon,
Does Locast carry local LPTV and Class A stations?
Our business manager's husband who grew up in central PA says "The two of
yinz."
Craig Fox
WTVU/WMJQ
Syracuse, NY
___________________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon C. Moon <jonmoon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: lptv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sat, Jul 24, 2021 5:05 pm
Subject: [lptv] FYI: Locast now in Pittsburgh
FYI:
Locast lights up Pittsburgh
https://www.fiercevideo.com/broadcasting/locast-lights-up-pittsburgh?mkt_tok=Mjk0LU1RRi0wNTYAAAF-c_lEdPq6tAcq8gtxHslGSkDX-F1GX2hhghywGYNkL1uD5LAucainlGpi7MqBlin9An0ddoMk86euXhcpbbmHw4H17jXR-ho93cqg_9LXogpJ3w-0pQ&mrkid=23833277
<https://www.fiercevideo.com/broadcasting/locast-lights-up-pittsburgh?mkt_tok=Mjk0LU1RRi0wNTYAAAF-c_lEdPq6tAcq8gtxHslGSkDX-F1GX2hhghywGYNkL1uD5LAucainlGpi7MqBlin9An0ddoMk86euXhcpbbmHw4H17jXR-ho93cqg_9LXogpJ3w-0pQ&mrkid=23833277>
The free broadcast television streaming service Locast has added a 35th
market and a new second-person plural pronoun, “yinz.”
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinz>
The Washington-based non-profit announced Friday morning
<https://www.locast.org/news/press-releases/locast-brings-free-local-tv-streaming-service-to-pittsburgh/>
that it had expanded to the Pittsburgh market, home of one of America’s
oldest broadcast stations <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDKA-TV>as well as
that regional shorthand for “you ones.”
The service’s press release says Locast’s service for area residents (the
Pittsburgh market covers Morgantown, W. Va.) delivers 40-plus stations,
including NBC affiliate WPXI, WTAE (ABC), KDKA (CBS, which went on the air in
1949), and WPGH (Fox), as well as PBS, CW and other local stations.
This expansion, following the additions of the Raleigh-Durham market
<https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/locast-adds-market-hits-2-7m-users-as-legal-challenge-looms>
and Columbus
<https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/locast-nears-3m-users-as-it-adds-another-market>
in June, brings Locast’s reach to 54% of the U.S. population. At the
Columbus launch, Locast said it had hit “more than 2.8 million registered
users nationwide.”
Locast does not pay retransmission fees to broadcasters, relying on a clause
in the Copyright Act of 1976 <https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html>
that exempts non-profits providing secondary transmissions “without any
purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage, and without charge to the
recipients of the secondary transmission other than assessments necessary to
defray the actual and reasonable costs of maintaining and operating the
secondary transmission service.”
Locast is free to watch but requests a $5 monthly donation to cover those
costs. Viewers who don’t ante up get interrupted after 15 minutes of viewing
with an ad encouraging donations — “If you’re sick of being ripped off by
services that cost too much, please do your part to keep Locast alive” — that
then kicks them back to the program guide.
It also offers free service to up to 25,000 qualifying students, first
responders and low-income households nationwide through its Locast Cares
program.
“We haven’t disclosed the number of donors,” Locast spokesman Marc Lumpkin
wrote in an email Friday. “However, we have stated that the majority of our
users do not donate.”
He declined to offer an updated figure for total users, saying Locast stopped
releasing new numbers after the Columbus launch.
Other broadcasters dislike Locast
Broadcasters have been unamused by Locast since it launched in January 2018
<https://www.fiercevideo.com/regulatory/news-note-locast-org-sony-pictures-television-cw-and-snap-inc>
as a project of Sports Fans Coalition NY, a group founded to advocate for
local viewers <https://www.sportsfans.org/about> who find themselves cut off
from local teams’ games by retransmission fights
<https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/at-t-tegna-settle-differences-as-dish-nexstar-fight-goes>
and other local blackouts.
In 2019, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC sued Locast in United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York for copyright infringement. Their
complaint
<https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.520217/gov.uscourts.nysd.520217.1.0_1.pdf>
says “Locast is nothing like the local booster services contemplated by
Congress in creating this narrow exemption” and alleges that “Locast’s
founding, funding, and operations reveal its decidedly commercial purposes.”
AT&T kicked in a $500,000 donation to Sports Fans Coalition NY in June of
2019
<https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/at-t-backs-free-broadcast-tv-service-locast-500k-donation>,
which the Dallas firm said
<https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/att-to-donate-500-000-to-locast-operator-sports-fans-coalition-ny-300876150.html>
was meant to support the group’s work to “make free broadcast content
available to consumers and offer them more choice.”
The broadcasters’ lawsuit remains in progress
<https://www.fiercevideo.com/regulatory/abc-cbs-fox-and-nbc-outline-case-against-locast>.
Zamir Ahmed, communications vice president at the National Association of
Broadcasters, did not expand on the group’s initial endorsement of that
lawsuit <https://www.nab.org/documents/newsroom/pressRelease.asp?id=5088> in
which NAB said it “wholeheartedly backs” the challenge against Locast, which
it described as a firm “thinly disguised as a not-for-profit entity that
mirrors failed predecessors Aereo and FilmOn in its bid to legitimize the
theft of local TV broadcast signals.”
Locast, meanwhile, recently added support for viewer profiles and favorite
channels. It offers service
<https://helpcenter.locast.org/portal/en/kb/articles/supported-devices> via
web browsers, iOS, Android, Roku, Fire TV, TiVo, Apple TV, among other
platforms, all of which check a viewer’s location via various methods
<https://helpcenter.locast.org/portal/en/kb/articles/geolocation-errors-on-tv-streaming-devices>
to limit viewership to local users.
---------------------------------------
Jon C. Moon
Ridgeline TV Channel 99
706-897-0872
www.ridgelinetv.net <http://www.ridgelinetv.net/>
