LocalBTV, a live TV streaming service that offers local channels for free, has been offline for almost two weeks. While the company behind it, Didja Inc., has been silent about the matter, there are indications it’s run out of money and trying to find new funding.
Cord Cutters News has seen screenshots from the official LocalBTV Facebook page telling supporters by private message that it is trying to secure new funding, suggesting it’s run out of money. The messages appear to be authentic but the team behind LocalBTV has declined to comment.
LocalBTV launched in 2017, first in the greater San Francisco area, and streamed 35 local channels for free on its app. With the service, you can watch local channels that the company struck deals with for free. Then near the end of November, it went dark.
The outage has taken the service offline on both its website and mobile apps. Also, the LocalBTV app has been removed from the Roku store. Viewers have been unable to watch their local programming through the service. This came after the service temporarily went down in October and broke the optional DVR for many. It had just added Samsung smart TVs to its list of supported devices.
The official social media accounts for LocalBTV have not posted any updates since March 2023 on both Facebook and X formerly Twitter.
According to LinkedIn, the employees of Didja Inc., the parent company of LocalBTV, are still listed as working there, although those social media accounts may not have been updated.
The future of LocalBTV is a mystery. The company has gone silent. It’s starting to look like money may have been the issue that forced them offline. Cord Cutters News will continue to investigate the outage and, hopefully, someone from LocalBTV will be able to comment on it soon.