Local TV+ Streams Boston Affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS; Is New Free Service Legal?

There’s a new name in the game of local channel distribution, at least for one of America’s biggest cities. Bostonians can now access the Local TV+ app through iOS and tvOS devices, and the non-profit's website promises that it will be rolling out to more devices soon. Local TV+ allows Boston-area residents to watch their local ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and PBS stations absolutely free without a cable subscription.

• Local TV+ has an operational range of around 100 miles surrounding Boston.
• The service is non-profit, which it says allows it to retransmit these signals without needing legal approval.
• The service is highly reminiscent of Locast, the local news streamer that shut down in 2021 after legal challenges.

Local TV+ is a non-profit organization, which retransmits signals from Boston-area local channels in a radius of around 100 miles outside the city. Its rollout has been slow; the Local TV+ app first became available for beta testing in August 2023, despite the service first being announced in 2022. The app is only available to test through the TestFlight app development platform from Apple, so Android device users are out of luck for the moment.

The app is completely free to use, though the Local TV+ website points out that viewers are allowed to make tax-deductible donations if they wish. The owners make clear that these donations are intended to help keep the service in operation, and that they are completely optional.

Is Local TV+ Legal?

If some readers think Local TV+ sounds eerily similar to Locast, they could certainly be forgiven for that thought. Locast was a news streaming service that retransmitted local broadcast channels, much like Local TV+ is doing.

This is not the first time that a streamer has attempted to get around copyright and retransmission rules with this type of strategy. Just a few years ago, the extremely popular service Locast also billed itself as a non-profit service and required donations from viewers if they wanted to stream the service without ads.

In 2019, the streamer was sued by owners of the “Big Four” networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. Locast’s status as a non-profit allowed it to retransmit the signals of these services, and even to ask viewers for money if they wanted to stream ad-free. But the judge in the case ruled that because Locast used its money to expand its service to new territories, it had crossed the line to illegal operations. The streamer was forced to shut down in September 2021.

Things didn’t end well for Locast, as its assets were liquidated and its owners forced to pay a cash settlement to the Big Four. Local TV+ seems poised to avoid that fate for now, but it will have to ensure that it’s very careful about how it allocates the donation money it receives from viewers, lest it too follow Locast into streaming oblivion.

How Else Can You Watch Local Channels?

DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV all carry local channels in a vast majority of top markets, making such live TV streaming services the most reliable way to ensure you’ve always got access to the live news, sports and other local content that matters most to you. Sling TV also carries ABC, Fox, and NBC in a handful of markets around the country.

Over-the-air antennas can cost as little as $11, and provide access to local channels with no monthly subscription fee. If locals are the most important TV channels in your lineup, this is the cheapest avenue toward ensuring you have uninterrupted access to them.

News streaming services like Local Now are also available to stream cost-free, and feature market-specific news channels from hundreds of cities in the United States. These platforms are excellent for news-hungry viewers, but they don’t feature much of anything in the way of local sports or the entertainment options that viewers will find on their local affiliates.