Locast vs. the Media Giants

Locast a nonprofit startup service that launched in 2018 which grabs over-the-air channels and streams them free over the internet said late Thursday that the ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC's "sham litigation" against it, is an antitrust conspiracy to drive it out of business and they are colluding to deny consumers over-the-air signals they once committed to make freely available. 

The suit was the first attack against a company that many see as a successor to Aereo (see past stories), a for-profit streaming service that five years ago offered consumers livestreams of broadcast channels for a monthly subscription. The difference between the cases is Locast's nonprofit status. US copyright law has allowed certain nonprofit institutions to grab over-the-air TV signals and retransmit them to nonpaying viewers, such as a university setting up an antenna that can retransmit to students in its dorms.

Locast's first official answer to the copyright suit goes beyond simply rejecting the companies' accusations of copyright infringement to accuse them of collusion and it's bringing Google's YouTube into the fight. Locast stated that executives at YouTubeTV a paid service that streams live TV channels, met with the Big Four broadcasters suing Locast in April. According to Locast, the YouTube executives were told that if YouTubeTV provided access to Locast, then YouTubeTV would be "punished" by the media giants when YouTube renegotiated the licensing deals allowing its streaming service to carry media giants' cable networks.

In full disclosure, although Locast relies on donations from viewers, it accepts money from corporations and recently received $500,000 from AT&T, which also operates the DirecTV satellite service. When a fee dispute blacked out CBS for more than 6.5 million AT&T television subscribers for a few weeks this summer, AT&T encouraged its users to try Locast.

No doubt this story will continue for some time and we look forward to seeing how it ultimately plays out. More:  The Hollywood Reporter 09/26/19 - Locast Accuses the Major Broadcasters of Antitrust Violations and The New York Times 09/27/19 - Locast, a Free Streaming Service, Sues ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox