Locast, frequently recommended on Metafilter, has suspended operations, following a U.S. Federal Court’s ruling. Locast provided free access to local TV stations in 35 U.S. markets at the time of the ruling.
In a summary judgment, U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton sided with ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, claiming that Locast’s use of donations to expand into new markets disqualified them from being a nonprofit. The judge noted that In 2020, Locast “made far more money from user charges than was necessary to defray its costs of maintaining and operating its service.”
Locast sent email notifications to its over 3 million subscribers, cancelled their payments and closed their accounts.