RALEIGH, N.C.—Locast has announced that it has expanded its free streaming service to the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. area, delivering 40 local TV channels to the nearly 3 million residents in that TV market, which also includes Fayetteville, Chapel Hill and Rocky Mount. Raleigh is Locast’s 33rd market.
The local channels include WRAL NBC 5, WTVD ABC 11, WNCN CBS 17, WRAZ FOX 50, PBS, PBS Kids, as well as DABL, Univision, Antenna, CourtTV, Mystery, MeTV, TrueCrime, the CW, GetTV, BOUNCE, Quest, LAFF, COMET, HSN, GRIT, COZI, and more.
Locast is accessible to viewers in 23 counties in the Raleigh-Durham DMA including Chatham, Cumberland, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Nash, Northhampton, Orange, Person, Sampson, Vance, Wake, Warren, Wayne, and Wilson. The DMA also covers Mecklenburg, Virginia.
Locast now says it has more than 2.7 million registered users nationwide. Locast says it operates under the Copyright Act of 1976 that allows nonprofit translator services to rebroadcast local stations without receiving a copyright license from the broadcaster.
Broadcasters say Locast is little different than Aereo, another business that rebroadcast their signals and was ultimately defeated by a Supreme Court decision. The NAB has a pending lawsuit against the organization.
