Locast sets up in a central location in a market and from that receive
point adds all the broadcast stations they can receive. If a LPTV station
is receivable in that location, they will normally add it.
We had all 12 of our channels added in Detroit when they started here.
On Sat, Jul 24, 2021 at 11:42 PM Jon C. Moon <jonmoon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
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
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
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
