Orrick Partner Again Advising on Local TV Initiative
David Hosp and Locast founder David Goodfriend say they've found a way to retransmit local TV broadcasts over the Internet without violating copyright laws.
July 01, 2019 at 08:01 PM
4 minute read
David Goodfriend and David Hosp are on a mission to rebroadcast TV transmissions.
Goodfriend is the founder of Locast, the latest organization that's trying to fill a critical gap for cord-cutting TV watchers: over-the-air local programming delivered via the internet.
Hosp is Locast's attorney. This is not the Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe partner's first attempt at finding a workaround for local TV viewers. He represented Aereo Inc. as it litigated its novel technological approach to live streaming through the Second Circuit. Ultimately the Supreme Court turned thumbs-down on that effort in 2014.
Goodfriend and Hosp believe they've hit on a new solution. Locast is organized as a nonprofit, and retransmits CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and other local programming free of charge—though it does put the squeeze on viewers for $5 a month donations. Section 111(a)(5) of the Copyright Act provides safe haven for nonprofits that act “without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage, and without charge to the recipients of the secondary transmission service.”
Locast has been operating for a year and a half and is in 13 media markets. Last week AT&T announced a $500,000 donation to the organization. So far, there's been no legal challenge, despite the broadcast industry's track record of defending its broadcasts.
“It may be there will be no litigation,” Hosp said. “It may mean they've looked at the legal issues involved and come to the same conclusion we have.”
Over-the-air broadcasting is something you were supposed to be able to get without paying an arm and a leg,” Goodfriend said. Viewers don't want to pay hundreds of dollars a month for channels they never watch just to get local news and sports, he said.
A lawyer, lobbyist and former staff adviser to an FCC commissioner, Goodfriend has been operating the nonprofit Sportsfan Coalition for 10 years. It's main claim to fame is helping persuade the FCC to eliminate its blackout rule against local broadcasts of NFL games that weren't sold out.
When teaching a class on telecommunication policy at George Washington University, Goodfriend brought in Hosp, a GW alum, to talk about the Aereo case. “It was probably the best class I ever taught,” Goodfriend says.
Aereo's idea was to set up thousands of tiny antennae that serve to individualized signals to online subscribers. That way, Aereo argued, it wasn't performing the broadcast works publicly and therefore didn't violate copyright laws. The Supreme Court disagreed.
Goodfriend set up Sports Fans Coalition NY, a 510(c)(4), to operate Locast. Users are asked to donate $5 a month. If they decline, their broadcast is regularly interrupted with fundraising pitches.
“It's a free service, but there's an incentive to become a contributing member,” Goodfriend says. “By law we're not allowed to make a profit. We're only paying for our expenses.”
Locast also geofences its retransmission to the local market. Users can't watch San Francisco programming while in New York.
Peter Menell, a Berkeley Law professor who contributed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the broadcasting industry in Aereo, said he thinks Locast, “at least as it is portraying itself, qualifies for the exemption.” But he noted that Congress passed Section 111(a)(5) “long ago during a different technological era.”
“It is unclear whether its activities will stray into direct or indirect commercial advantage or whether Congress would revisit the statute in the current technological age,” Menell said.
The fact that law may not yet be settled doesn't bother Goodfriend. “The realm of the unknown is not an invitation to do nothing. It's an invitation to do something,” he says.
Meanwhile, Locast is pressing the issue. Last month it opened for business in San Francisco and Los Angeles. “The Bay Area, especially Silicon Valley, loves to cut the cord,” Goodfriend said in a written statement. “The innovations of tech entrepreneurs have reshaped the way millions of Americans consume their news and entertainment. Locast adds to this tradition and improves the reach of local broadcasters serving their communities, supporting local journalism in the process.”
Hosp says it's a lot of fun advising Locast. “A lot of the public has forgotten that these signals are supposed to be free,” he said, “because we live in a cable-driven world.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllWho Got the Work: Latham & Watkins and Shumaker Defend NASCAR in Antitrust Case
4 minute read'Systemic and Pervasive'?: DiCello Levitt Alleges WWE Child Sexual Abuse Scandal
3 minute read'Significant Relief': Big Law Firms Represent UFC in $375M Antitrust Settlement Agreement
2 minute read'Substantive Deficiencies': Judge Grants Big Law Motion Dismissing Ivy League Price-Fixing Claims
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 3Guarantees Are Back, Whether Law Firms Want to Talk About Them or Not
- 4How I Made Practice Group Chair: 'If You Love What You Do and Put the Time and Effort Into It, You Will Excel,' Says Lisa Saul of Forde & O'Meara
- 5Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
- 6How Much Does the Frequency of Retirement Withdrawals Matter?
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250