Wednesday, March 11, 2020

How we watch cable FREE: Locast

Locast.org; Triple M;  Frank (FHF Show), Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly


Locast is a public service to Americans, providing local broadcast signals over the Internet in select cities. All you have to do is sign up online, provide your name and email address, and certify that you live in, and are logging on from, one of the select U.S. cities (“Designated Market Area”).

Then, you can select among local broadcasters and stream your favorite local station.

Locast.org is a [non-profit] “digital translator,” meaning that Locast.org operates just like a traditional broadcast translator service, except instead of using an over-the-air signal to boost a broadcaster’s reach, we stream the signal over the Internet to consumers located within select US cities.


Ever since the dawn of TV broadcasting in the mid-20th century, non-profit organizations have provided “translator” TV stations as a public service.

Where a primary broadcaster cannot reach a receiver with a strong enough signal, the translator amplifies that signal with another transmitter, allowing consumers who otherwise could not get the over-the-air signal to receive important programming, including local news, weather and, of course, sports.

(dgstreams) Locast TV is FREE online for live local TV in many markets

Cut the cord. DGstreams highly recommends this FREE APP if anyone wants live local news and TV stations. AT&T will donate $500,000 to Sports Fans Coalition NY, the not-for-profit organization that operates Locast, which lets users live-stream local broadcast TV stations via the Internet for free. Locast retransmits ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and other local over-the-air broadcast signals over the internet. It’s 100% legal because it doesn’t charge anything, relying instead on user donations. The organization says it operates under the same copyright statute that lets broadcast translators receive and transmit a primary local broadcast TV station without a copyright license. According to Sports Fans Coalition NY, that means Locast is allowed to provide the digital translator service to viewers even if local broadcasters object. So far broadcasters have not challenged Locast in court. Locast is currently available in 13 cities, representing nearly one-third of all U.S. TV homes: NY, Chicago, LA, SF, Philadelphia, Dallas, Washington, Houston, Boston, Denver, Baltimore, Rapid City, and Sioux Falls. In addition to Locast, AT&T offers a free digital antenna to customers for local stations that aren’t available via Locast. New York-based Sports Fans Coalition NY was founded in 2017 and first launched Locast in NYC in January 2018.

Locast.org provides the same public service, except instead of an over-the-air signal transmitter, we provide the local broadcast signal via online streaming.

A broadband Internet connection is needed for optimal performance. Using a laptop, smartphone, or computer connected to the Internet, point browser to www.locast.org to sign up. You then can choose which local broadcast station to watch from your Internet-enabled device. More + VIDEO

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