Byron Allen’s Local Now has added 111 free, ad-supported streaming channels to its lineup that will carry coverage from Gray Media’s local stations across the U.S., TheWrap can reveal exclusively.
The partnership solidifies the FAST service’s position as the largest source of free local news and television coverage in the United States, with nearly 600 channels nationwide.
Local Now, which has a presence in all 210 markets across the country, offers localized news, weather, sports, traffic, and entertainment, customized seamlessly by a user’s device geolocation. It has 223 proprietary channels and 370 standalone local news channels from a network of 28 traditional broadcast television groups.
“Our partnership with Gray Media ensures our viewers can stay connected to real-time news, weather, and sports that matter most to them wherever they may be,” Local Now Chairman and CEO Byron Allen said in a statement. “Between our broadcast partner network and our proprietary hyper-local technology, Local Now remains committed to delivering premium, trusted local journalism to every community in America, entirely for free.”
The new partnership comes after Gray Media acquired 10 local stations from AMG for $171 million last year.
It also comes after Allen acquired a majority stake in BuzzFeed back in March. At the time, he told TheWrap in an interview that he planned to bring BuzzFeed and Huffington Post to living rooms through a free “super app,” which would combine the brands with LocalNow, over 30,000 movies and TV shows and nearly 1,000 FAST channels.
Local Now is available for free on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Google TV, Xfinity, Vizio, Samsung TV Plus, Android, and iOS devices.
