Non-profit streaming service Locast is suing ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC

Locast streams content from ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS through its app without users having to rely on a home antenna. The service is free to users and is available in 13 cities, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles. The broadcasters have recorded this and joined in July to sue Locast for copyright infringement. Their lawsuit was named by Locast founder David Goodfriend and his nonprofit advocacy group, Sports Fans Coalition NY, Inc., which operates the service as the defendants.

Locast denied the claim in its count filed Thursday in the Federal District Court of Manhattan, citing the award as a non-profit. Goodfriend launched Locast in January 2018 in a nonprofit entity, which the case argues, giving it the legal right to re-broadcast local stations without receiving a copyright license from broadcast networks.

power beyond what copyright was intended to protect. Pay TV providers are getting rich. The plaintiffs are getting rich. The public is fleeced, "the lawsuit states.

Locast's lawsuit used YouTube TV as an example of a company affected by the network's alleged collaboration. The case cites an April meeting between executives on YouTube TV, Google's paid streaming service, and Locast. The executives allegedly said that if YouTube TV provided access to Locast, YouTube TV would be "penalized by Big 4 broadcasters in negotiating transport agreements for other un-broadcast programming channels," the lawsuit states.

AT&T, the parent company of WarnerMedia , which owns CNN, added Locast to DirecTV and U-Verse in May. In June, AT&T gave $ 500,000 to Sports Fans Coalition to "support SFCNY's mission to make free broadcast content available to consumers and offer them more choices," he said the company in a release.

CBS declined to comment A spokesman for NBCUniversal contacted CNN Business to a representative of the broadcasters in the lawsuit who said he was considering the filing. ABC and Fox did not immediately respond to CNN Business & # 39; s request for comment. Google and AT&T, which are not part of the lawsuit, did not respond either.

Goodfriend is an attorney who served in the government as an aide in the Clinton administration and as an adviser to Federal Communication Commissioner Susan Ness. He later worked at DISH Network. Earlier this year, in an interview with the New York Times, Goodfriend said he welcomed a lawsuit from the networks. CNN Business has contacted him for comment.

This is not the first time a streaming service is fighting the networks. Aereo previously provided streams of TV channels for a monthly subscription without paying broadcasters. But in 2014, the Supreme Court dismissed the service as illegal, citing copyright law.