Free Internet Broadcast TV for NYers
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Well before the Supreme court shuts them down.
Locast.org is a public service to New Yorkers that provides over the Internet the local broadcast signals of 14 New York City broadcast stations. 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, the New York City market (“Designated Market Area”). Then, you can select among New York broadcasters and stream your favorite local station.
Locast.org is a “digital translator,” meaning that Locast.org operates just like a traditional broadcast translator service, except instead of using an over-the-air signal to boost a broadcaster’s reach, we stream the signal over the Internet to consumers located within the New York City market.
Ever since the dawn of TV broadcasting in the mid-20th Century, non-profit organizations have provided “translator” TV stations as a public service. Where a primary broadcaster cannot reach a receiver with a strong enough signal, the translator amplifies that signal with another transmitter, allowing consumers who otherwise could not get the over-the-air signal to receive important programming, including local news, weather and of course, sports. Locast.org provides the same public service, except instead of an over-the-air signal transmitter, we provide the local broadcast signal via online streaming.
You need a broadband Internet connection for optimal performance. Using a laptop, smartphone, or computer connected to the Internet, point your browser to www.Locast.org to sign up. You then can choose which local broadcast station to watch from your Internet-enabled device.
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Interesting, Aereo started in NYC too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo
I imagine NYC is an especially poor location for picking up OTA signals.I guess ‘nonprofit translator’ is the legal angle for locast. But I agree that we should assume locast will be shut down too - aereo seemed very legally sound to me.
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this is great!
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Still free and now available In 9 cities:
Baltimore
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Houston
New York
Philadelphia
Washington DC
