A federal judge has ordered the nonprofit streaming service Locast to permanently close.

Locast announced on its official website that the service is ceasing operations effective immediately, noting how the company “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling. The company had suspended its service following another court ruling in early September.

Locast was a non-profit streaming service that streamed local TV channels to users in the United States. It used its non-profit status to circumvent copyright laws and rebroadcast TV signals, but this drew the ire of the major TV networks. The service was "free", although a prompt appeared every 15 minutes asking users to purchase a membership or be returned to the main screen.

In 2019, the four major networks — CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox — sued Locast, claiming the service violated copyright law and required a retransmission license to stream their local channels. Locast defended itself by saying it was merely streaming a signal that was already free.