Locast alternatives are what millions of former users went looking for after Locast.org shut down in September 2021. Locast was a nonprofit streaming service that let people watch local broadcast TV — ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, and more — over the internet for a small voluntary donation. It sounded almost too good to be true, and in the end, the courts agreed with the broadcasters: after losing a copyright lawsuit brought by the major networks, Locast suspended operations and never came back. If you are searching for Locast in 2026, here is the essential fact: Locast is defunct and will not return. This guide explains what happened, why it shut down, and the seven best legal alternatives for watching free local TV today.
Table of Contents
- What Was Locast?
- Why Did Locast Shut Down?
- Is Locast Coming Back?
- Beware of Fake “Locast” Sites and Apps
- The 7 Best Legal Locast Alternatives
- 1. An Over-the-Air (OTA) Antenna
- 2. Pluto TV
- 3. Tubi
- 4. The Roku Channel
- 5. Amazon Freevee
- 6. Plex (Free Tier)
- 7. Free Network Apps and Websites
- Locast Alternatives Compared
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Was Locast?
Locast.org was a nonprofit service founded in 2018 by the Sports Fans Coalition, a consumer-advocacy group. Its pitch was simple and clever: US copyright law contains a provision allowing nonprofit organizations to retransmit local broadcast signals, and Locast built its entire service on that provision. Users in covered cities could stream their local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, and other broadcast stations live over the internet — on phones, smart TVs, Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV — in exchange for a requested $5-per-month “donation.”
At its peak, Locast operated in dozens of US media markets and claimed millions of registered users. For cord-cutters, it filled a genuine gap: streaming services like Netflix and Hulu did not carry live local channels, and many people could not get reliable reception with an indoor antenna. Locast offered the local news, sports, and network shows people wanted, delivered over the internet, for less than the cost of a coffee.
The broadcasters saw it very differently. To them, Locast was an unauthorized retransmission service siphoning viewers — and retransmission fees — away from cable and satellite providers. In 2019, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox sued Locast for copyright infringement, setting up the legal battle that would end the service.
Why Did Locast Shut Down?
The lawsuit against Locast turned on a single legal question: did the service qualify for the nonprofit retransmission exemption in the Copyright Act? A federal judge ruled in August 2021 that it did not — largely because Locast used the “donation” revenue to expand into new markets rather than strictly covering the costs of operating its local retransmission service. Once that exemption fell away, Locast’s retransmissions were plain copyright infringement.
Locast suspended its operations in early September 2021, days after the ruling. Later that year it agreed to a settlement with the broadcasters and a permanent injunction barring it from operating. The shutdown was total: the apps stopped working, the website went dark as a service, and the organization wound down. There was no acquisition, no rebrand, no relaunch under a new name.
The case became a landmark example of the limits of the nonprofit retransmission defense, and it sent a clear signal to any would-be successor: streaming local broadcast stations over the internet without the broadcasters’ permission will draw the same lawsuit and the same outcome. That legal reality is why every alternative in this guide is either fully licensed or based on receiving free over-the-air signals yourself — the two approaches the courts have no problem with.
Is Locast Coming Back?
No. Locast is permanently shut down under a court-ordered injunction, and there has been no credible announcement of a return in any form. The organization behind it has moved on, and the legal precedent that killed it still stands.
This matters because the internet is full of zombie content about Locast: old setup guides, “how to activate Locast on Roku” tutorials, and forum threads that read as if the service still exists. Some of that content is simply outdated; some of it is bait. Treat any site that claims Locast is back — or offers a “new Locast” app download — as suspicious. At best it is misinformation; at worst it is a vehicle for malware or phishing. If you want to protect yourself generally, our guide on how to tell if a link is safe before clicking is worth a read before you tap any “Locast download” link.
Beware of Fake “Locast” Sites and Apps
Whenever a popular free service dies, scammers rush in to harvest its search traffic. Searches for Locast still surface clone sites and unofficial apps promising to “bring back” the service or offering a “Locast 2.0.” These are not affiliated with the original nonprofit in any way.
Red flags include: demands for payment or “activation fees” for a service that was donation-based, requests to sideload APK files or enable unknown-source installs, sign-up forms asking for credit-card details, and apps with no verifiable developer identity. The original Locast never charged a mandatory fee and never distributed through unofficial app stores — anything doing so in its name is a scam. Stick to the legitimate alternatives below, all of which come from established companies through official app stores.
The 7 Best Legal Locast Alternatives
Locast’s core appeal was free access to local broadcast TV. The good news is that several fully legal options deliver most of that value — some with actual local channels, others with deep libraries of free movies, shows, and live news that scratch the same cord-cutting itch. Here are the seven best, starting with the one that most directly replaces what Locast did.
1. An Over-the-Air (OTA) Antenna
The closest thing to Locast is the thing Locast was rebroadcasting: free over-the-air television, received directly. A modern indoor digital antenna costs roughly $20–$40, plugs into your TV’s antenna input, and pulls in your local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, CW, and independent stations in full HD — completely free, forever, with no subscription, no account, and no internet required.
Reception depends on your distance from broadcast towers and on local terrain, but most people in metro areas get dozens of channels. To see what is available at your address, check the FCC’s DTV reception maps or a site like AntennaWeb before buying. Placement matters enormously: a window-facing wall, as high as possible, often doubles your channel count versus a spot behind the TV. If your TV keeps dropping the signal or your smart TV apps buffer, note that antenna TV is immune to Wi-Fi problems entirely — though if your streaming apps struggle, our guide to smart TVs that keep disconnecting from Wi-Fi may help with the rest of your setup.
Pair an antenna with a networked tuner like an HDHomeRun or Tablo and you can even stream those local channels to every phone, tablet, and TV in your house — a DIY version of what Locast offered, entirely within your own home and entirely legal.
2. Pluto TV
Pluto TV is the biggest free ad-supported streaming service in the US, owned by Paramount. It offers hundreds of live “channels” — themed streams running 24/7 — plus thousands of on-demand movies and shows. It does not carry your local ABC or NBC affiliate’s live feed, which is the one thing it cannot replace. But for the broader Locast use case — free background TV, live news, classic shows, and movies without a subscription — it is the strongest single app to install.
Pluto’s lineup includes live news from CBS News, NBC News NOW, and Sky News, plus dedicated channels for genres like crime dramas, reality TV, documentaries, and kids’ programming. The on-demand library rotates but consistently includes recognizable movies and series. It is available on virtually every platform: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, smart TVs, phones, and the web. No account is required to watch, though signing up unlocks cross-device watchlists.
3. Tubi
Tubi, owned by Fox Corporation, is the largest free on-demand library among the ad-supported services, with tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes. Its strength is depth: where Pluto TV leans on live channels, Tubi leans on a searchable catalog that includes Fox shows, classic films, anime, documentaries, and a surprisingly strong selection of independent and international titles.
Tubi also carries live news and a growing set of linear-style channels, and as a Fox property it occasionally surfaces Fox-adjacent content you will not find on rival free services. Like Pluto, it is free with ads, needs no subscription, and runs on every major streaming platform. For former Locast users who mainly watched network dramas and movies, Tubi plus an antenna covers nearly everything Locast did.
4. The Roku Channel
The Roku Channel started as a free content hub for Roku device owners but has grown into a full free streaming service available to everyone — you can watch on the web and on non-Roku devices too. It bundles free movies and shows, live TV channels, and, notably, free live local news streams in many markets through its news section.
That local-news component makes it the closest streaming-only analog to part of Locast’s offering: you can watch live local newscasts from participating stations without an antenna. The selection varies by market and is news-focused rather than full network programming — you will not get prime-time ABC here — but combined with an antenna for the network feeds, it fills the local-information gap nicely. It is also one of the smoothest free apps on Roku hardware, unsurprisingly.
5. Amazon Freevee
Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) is Amazon’s free ad-supported service, built into Fire TV devices and Prime Video apps. Its catalog includes licensed movies and shows plus a slate of Freevee Originals — free exclusive series and films that give it an edge over pure-library competitors. The live side includes themed FAST channels for genres like true crime, comedy, and reality.
For Fire TV owners, Freevee is essentially unavoidable in the best way: it is integrated into the home screen and the Prime Video app, so free content sits alongside anything you rent or buy. It does not offer local broadcast affiliates, so it complements rather than replaces an antenna — but as a source of free premium-feeling originals, it is one of the strongest Locast alternatives on this list.
6. Plex (Free Tier)
Plex is best known as personal media-server software, but its free tier has quietly become a formidable ad-supported streaming service in its own right. Plex’s free offering includes hundreds of live TV channels and a large on-demand library of movies and shows, all without requiring you to run a server or own any media files.
What sets Plex apart for former Locast users is its live-TV integration: if you connect an antenna and a compatible tuner to a Plex server, Plex becomes a whole-home DVR for your local channels — record the news, pause live TV, and stream your locals to any device. That is the full Locast replacement for tinkerers: free local channels, everywhere in your house, on your own hardware. Even without the tuner, the free ad-supported catalog alone makes the app worth installing.
7. Free Network Apps and Websites
Do not overlook the broadcasters’ own free offerings. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, and the CW all operate free apps and websites with substantial free content: recent episodes of many shows (often with a short delay after airing), live streams of national news coverage, and clips. PBS is especially generous — the PBS app streams a huge amount of content free, and many local PBS stations offer live streams of their broadcast feed at no cost.
Additionally, several networks stream live national news free around the clock: CBS News, NBC News NOW, ABC News Live, and others all have free 24/7 streams available in their apps and on services like Pluto TV and The Roku Channel. You will not get your local affiliate’s prime-time lineup this way, but for news — which was a huge part of Locast’s appeal — the free options are abundant.
Locast Alternatives Compared
Here is how the seven options stack up on the things former Locast users care about most:
- Actual local ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox feeds: only the OTA antenna (and tuner-based setups) deliver these. None of the streaming apps carry local affiliates’ full feeds.
- Live local news: antenna first, then The Roku Channel’s local news streams and the networks’ free news apps.
- Biggest free on-demand library: Tubi, followed by Pluto TV and Plex.
- Best free originals: Amazon Freevee.
- Whole-home local TV streaming + DVR: antenna plus HDHomeRun/Tablo, or antenna plus Plex with a tuner.
- Cheapest to start: all the apps are free; the antenna is a one-time $20–$40 purchase that pays for itself immediately.
The practical winning combination for most ex-Locast households is an indoor antenna for the local channels plus two or three of the free apps for movies, shows, and national news. Total ongoing cost: zero.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Locast.org?
Locast shut down in September 2021 after losing a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. A federal judge ruled that the nonprofit did not qualify for the copyright exemption it relied on, and Locast suspended operations days later, eventually agreeing to a permanent injunction. The service is defunct and will not return.
Is there a Locast replacement that streams local channels?
No internet service legally streams your local ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates the way Locast did — the lawsuit closed that door. The legal way to get those channels free is an over-the-air antenna, optionally paired with a networked tuner (HDHomeRun, Tablo) or Plex to stream them around your home.
Are Pluto TV, Tubi, and The Roku Channel really free?
Yes. They are ad-supported: you watch commercials in exchange for free content, with no subscription, no credit card, and no trial to cancel. They are owned by major media companies (Paramount, Fox, Roku) and are fully licensed.
Can I get Locast on Roku or Fire TV in 2026?
No. The Locast apps were removed and the service shut down in 2021; any app or site currently claiming to offer Locast is unofficial and likely a scam or malware vector. Install the legitimate free alternatives from the official Roku Channel Store or Amazon Appstore instead.
Do I need internet for an OTA antenna?
No. Over-the-air TV is broadcast radio spectrum received directly by the antenna — it works with no internet connection, no account, and no subscription. That also makes it immune to Wi-Fi outages and buffering.
What is the cheapest way to replace Locast?
A $20–$40 indoor antenna gives you the actual local channels free forever, and the free streaming apps (Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Freevee, Plex) cost nothing. Combined, they cover everything Locast offered at zero ongoing cost.
