Locast, a “not-for-profit service offering users access to broadcast television stations over the internet,” has been suspended effective immediately following a lawsuit. The four biggest broadcast networks in the U.S.—ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox—all filed a lawsuit against Locast on the basis of copyright infringement, insisting the streaming service was stealing their programming, as Deadline reports. Locast had positioned itself as a non-profit that didn’t charge for its streaming service, which would allow low-income people who couldn’t afford cable or other streaming subscriptions to gain access to TV. However, as The Hollywood Reporter explains, the service encouraged users to donate $5 a month to help keep the service running. They interrupted streaming every 15 minutes to show ads asking for donations, which was the basis of the broadcasters’ case. RELATED: Disney Is Shutting Down This Streaming Service by the End of the Year. The U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton ruled that under the law, fundraising can only be used to help pay for the service, but can’t be used to expand the non-profit into new markets. “Since portions of its user payments fund Locast’s expansion, its charges exceed those ’necessary to defray the actual and reasonable costs of maintaining and operating the secondary transmission service,’ which is the only exemption granted in Section 111 (a) (5),” the judge ruled.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Gerson Zweifach, counsel for ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, told Deadline, “The federal court’s ruling is a victory for copyright law, vindicating our claim that Locast is illegally infringing copyrights in broadcast television content in violation of federal law.” The broadcasters will now seek a permanent injunction to suspend Locast’s secondary streaming of the channels’ programming for good. On Aug. 2, Locast sent out an email to its users and posted a message on its homepage to alert consumers that the service was being suspended. “As a non-profit, Locast was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law, but in response to the court’s recent rulings, with which we respectfully disagree, we are hereby suspending operations, effective immediately,” the message read. Locast shutting down will impact 55 percent of people in the U.S. across 36 local markets who use the service, according to The Hollywood Reporter. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. While Locast’s suspension is the most controversial, it isn’t the only streaming service to be suspended recently. Over the past year, a handful of streaming services have been shut down. On Aug. 31, Disney announced that it would be shutting down its standalone Hotstar streaming service in the U.S. by the end of 2022, a service known for showing live cricket matches and various South Asian programs. T-Mobile also ended its TVision streaming service in late April and in Oct. 2020, Quibi, the short-form streaming platform for mobile devices, shut down just six months after launching. RELATED: 6 New Shows to Watch on Netflix This Weekend.
