Indianapolis is now the latest location to gain Locast support. As a result, residents in Indianapolis can now take advantage of the streaming service that offers access to local TV channels for free.
Compared to streaming services that tend to launch nationwide, the rolling out of Locast has been a much slower affair overall. At present, there are less than 25 locations in the United States that can access Locast, with new locations added somewhat randomly. Due to this, it is never quite clear when or where another place will gain support.
Locast confirmed the Indianapolis TV market support in a press release today, explaining that residents now have the option of streaming 42 local TV channels over the internet. As is usually the case, Locast highlights its “public service” image by pointing out how Indianapolis residents now have an additional option to catch up on local news, election information, as well as weather conditions and warnings.
According to the announcement, Locast is now providing viewers in Indianapolis with access to ABC 6, NBC 13, CBS 4, FOX 59, PBS, PBS Kids, MOVIES!, Telemundo, TruCrime Network, Bounce, Antenna TV, The CW, CourtTV, GRIT, NewsNet, Daystar, among others. In total, the new support extends to 32 counties, including Bloomington, Kokomo and Muncie.
Locast is growing, but slowly
Besides announcing the latest Locast location, the nonprofit also provided some updated metrics on its growth. According to Locast, it is now providing access to local TV channels in 24 different U.S. TV markets overall. While the service says this allows it to potentially serve as many as 148 million U.S. viewers, the actual figure using the service currently stands at 1.7 million.
With Locast offering free access to locals without the need to invest in additional hardware, the service is likely to appeal to many streamers. Especially considering that locals are often a point of contention when it comes to live TV streaming services that, either routinely end up in lengthy disputes over local TV channel carriage rights, or drop local channels altogether.
However, as long as the service continues to expand at a slow rate, the longer consumers will have to wait for the free service to go live in their area. For reference, the last location to gain support before Indianapolis was Detroit in September, following Minnesota in early August.
Source: Locast
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