Locast

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StinkyImp

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Locast

#1

Post by StinkyImp » Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:59 pm

Has anyone tried out the new service Locast?

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 US cities (“Designated Market Area”). Then, you can select among local broadcasters and stream your favorite local station.

Evidently it's a FREE "local channel" OTA streaming service for those with weak signals or no antenna in 16 major cities (so far). I recall a company named Aero that tried to do the same some years ago and was sued out of existence. It appears that Locast has overcome these obstacles in court and will be expanding services across the country. They just opened up the Seattle market...

If you've tried it, or are currently using it, what has been your experience?

Space

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#2

Post by Space » Thu Oct 31, 2019 2:33 am

They are still in a legal battle...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201 ... ice-alive/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/busi ... c-fox.html

EDIT:

I've been trying it out for the past hour or so (watching the World Series) and unless you pay the $5/month fee (they call it a donation) they appear to interrupt the show every 15 minutes with an advertisement begging you to donate. I have to stop and restart the stream to get it to continue after this ad (but I think this may be because of one of my plugins). The ad just plays, interrupting the programming, regardless of what is on (so can play right in the middle of the show), so calling it "free" is a bit of a stretch with this limitation if you don't "donate". If you need live local stations, $5/month may be a good deal (I haven't really researched), but again, I would not call it free with this limitation.

The stream seems fine, although when I first started it, it kept pausing/buffering, but it seems to be OK now. I just have it playing in a Firefox tab on Windows.

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