Just in time for the Super Bowl, online TV station streaming service Locast is announcing its expansion to two new markets--Washington and nearby Baltimore--as it expands its effort to provide free over-the-internet versions of over-the-air TV stations, a model that continues to expand in major markets unchecked by any pushback from broadcasters or TV studios or sports leagues that like to control distribution of their content.

That new Capital connection will put the service in front of lawmakers who hear it from constituents during retrans impasses, particularly ones that happen during must-have sports--football, baseball--playoffs.

In fact, recently, Charter was talking up Locast to its subscribers impacted by retransmission consent impasses. The cable operator told its Spectrum subscribers about the service in markets where Tribune Broadcasting stations had been blacked out and Locast is available, including New York, Houston, Dallas and Denver, before the parties reached a new retrans pact on Friday (Jan. 11).

“Locast is bringing the public mission of free, local broadcast to a new generation of cord-cutters and Internet-only video consumers," said David Goodfriend, chairman of the Sports Fans Coalition, which is behind the no-cost Locast effort. "With the addition of Washington, D.C, and Baltimore, Locast has now provided almost a third of U.S. television households with a way to watch local broadcast TV, even if you do not subscribe to pay-TV or cannot receive an over-the-air signal.”

Locast launched last January in New York, then added Houston and Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Boston and Philly.

To stream the TV signals without payment or permission--though Goodfriend says some independents have sought him out for carriage and provided help--Locast.org (a contraction of “local” and “broadcast”) is relying on Title 17, Chapter 1, section 111 a)5 of the Copyright Act — which, for those without a copy handy, covers exemptions from exclusive rights to broadcast transmissions. It grants that exemption if “the secondary transmission is not made by a cable system, but is made by a governmental body, or other nonprofit organization, without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage, and without charge to the recipients of the secondary transmission other than assessments necessary to defray the actual and reasonable costs of maintaining and operating the secondary transmission service.”

That is the same provision under which TV translators already boost broadcast signals, Goodfriend pointed out when the service launched, saying it should not matter what the technology is. They are a nonprofit taking a broadcast signal and retransmitting it, period, he says.

Locast asks for a donation to help defray expenses, which it says squares with the law, but it can't turn a profit or charge a sub fee.

ARLINGTON, VA.—ONE Media, a joint investment between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Coherent Logix, tasked with developing a next generation broadcast platform, has been granted Special Temporary Authority by the Federal Communications Commission to operate an experimental facility in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore markets to implement a single frequency network using the base elements of the new ATSC 3.0 transmission standard. The full-power, multi-site test platform using channel 43 in both markets will deploy a full range of 'Next Gen' services that include fixed, portable and mobile capabilities.

The test is designed to provide real-time assessments of quality of service using the new Internet Protocol-based standard currently being reviewed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee. The permittee for channel 43 in Washington has granted its consent for the test in support of the entire broadcast industry. 

"With the build-out of a first-of-its-kind SFN platform, ONE Media's ATSC 3.0 technology will be used to drive an understanding of the value new tools bring to broadcasting," stated Kevin Gage, EVP of Strategic Development and CTO of ONE Media. "We intend this new platform to be a place where the broadcast industry can unite to launch new and exciting consumer and B2B products and services." The SFN facilities are designed to prove-out the highly anticipated capabilities of the new broadcast transmission standard including demonstrating the transmission of separate program elements using the same channel in two adjacent markets. Among other things, the SFN will permit broadcasters to "zone" programming and advertising to discrete parts of a station's market using the same channel.

"We now have a place to innovate, and together with our Memorandum of Understanding partners, Samsung and Pearl TV, we can bring powerful business ideas into practical demonstrations of opportunities to monetize all of our core assets,” said Mark Aitken, vice president of Advanced Technology for Sinclair Broadcast Group. We have started to assemble a team that understands the benefits a multi-site SFN brings to all of the stakeholders." The congested East Coast demonstration sites will permit broadcasters, equipment suppliers, and regulators to test the broadcast platform in real world situations.

"The Next Gen broadcast platform is designed to permit the broadcast industry to evolve after the upcoming incentive auction and allow us to compete with other technologies," said Jerald Fritz, ONE Media's Executive Vice President for Strategic and Legal Affairs. "The dynamic advances in this IP-based platform promise to make broadcasting the new platform of choice for video distribution and beyond. It is precisely the innovation that Congress and the FCC have encouraged and that we are fulfilling. Our demonstration should provide regulators the evidence they need to expedite these dramatic and competitive service improvements."