Locast in Milwaukee

Free local TV translator service is now available.

Milwaukee TV watchers have another cord-cutting option.

Locast, a nonprofit digital TV translator service, is now available in the Milwaukee television market, bringing free local broadcast TV stations to viewers via its website )or through a digital app downloadable on a variety of streaming devices, including Apple TV and Roku.

While technically free, Locast urges users to donate “as little as $5 a month” to help the service continue operations.

The service, which went live in Milwaukee Friday, carries signals for more than 40 local channels, including a batch of low-power channels not available on local cable or satellite services. Through the Locast site or its app, local TV stations can be watched on smartphones, tablets, computers or streaming media devices.

Programs are accessed via a TV grid that’s similar to those delivered by cable and satellite TV systems.

Launched in 2018, Locast — a mashup of “local” and “broadcast” — is in the middle of a legal battle that could determine its fate.

The owners of some the signals Locast is carrying — ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — sued Locast in 2019, arguing the company’s requests for donations amount to user charges, even though Locast is not paying for the programming it’s giving viewers access to. (Cable television systems pay TV stations and networks billions in retransmission fees to allow them to show their programming on their systems and charge subscribers for it.)

Locast countersued a few months later, arguing its service is legal under the 1976 Copyright Act and accusing the networks of collusion. Marc Lumpkin, a Locast spokesman, said the trial is expected to start later this year.

In 2014, the TV networks won a similar legal fight against another streaming TV aggregator, Aereo, in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In announcing Locast’s entry into the Milwaukee market, the company noted its Wisconsin connection — its founder. David Goodfriend, the attorney and consumer advocate who launched Locast, was born and raised in Madison, graduated from Beloit College and worked for a time on the staff of U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl.

Milwaukee is the 36th market Locast has launched in, and the second in Wisconsin. It began providing programming in Madison in January.

LOCAST Locast, a free digital translator service, allows users to watch local broadcast television signals on any digital device. The service became available in the Milwaukee market July 30.

LOCAST A sample screen for Locast’s local TV offerings.