A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization called the Sports Fans Coalition has launched a free service called Locast.org that is streaming the live feeds of 14 Dallas/Fort Worth TV stations over the internet.

Sounds good, but is it legal?

You might remember a startup called Aereo that offered a similar service for $8 per month. Aereo was sued and forced to shut down.

The Sports Fans Coalition says it is not trying to profit from this service. It charges nothing, although it does take donations on its website.

Locast started streaming local channels in New York City earlier this year. Dallas is its second market.

Sports Fans Coalition chairman David Goodfriend told industry website Broadcasting & Cable, "Dallas is football country, and this fall, Dallas fans will be able to watch their home team online for free."

According to the website, "Locast.org is a 'digital translator,' meaning that Locast.org operates just like a traditional broadcast translator service, except instead of using an over-the-air signal to boost a broadcaster's reach, we stream the signal over the Internet to consumers located within the New York City market."

The service is geofenced, meaning it does check your location before the stream starts. If users try to stream content from outside Dallas-Fort Worth, they'll see a message reading, "We apologize, but it appears that you do no live in the designated market area to view this content."

The website is easy to navigate. The streams are quick to start, and they look good.

You have to use a web browser to see the streams, although you could watch on your TV using a phone or tablet with a Chromecast or Apple TV using AirPlay.

As for the legality, the Sports Fans Coalition offers this explanation on it website:

"Before 1976, under two Supreme Court decisions, any company or organization could receive an over-the-air broadcast signal and retransmit it to households in that broadcaster's market without receiving permission (a copyright license) from the broadcaster. Then, in 1976, Congress passed a law overturning the Supreme Court decisions and making it a copyright violation to retransmit a local broadcast signal without a copyright license. This is why cable and satellite operators, when retransmitting a broadcast signal, either must operate under a statutory 'compulsory' copyright license, or receive permission from the broadcaster.

"But Congress made an exception. Any 'non-profit organization' could make a 'secondary transmission' of a local broadcast signal, provided the non-profit did not receive any 'direct or indirect commercial advantage' and either offered the signal for free or for a fee 'necessary to defray the actual and reasonable costs' of providing the service. 17 U.S.C. 111(a)(5)."

Requests for comments from WFAA-TV (Channel 8) and KXAS-TV (NBC5), two channels included on the service, were not returned Friday.

It will be interesting to see whether the expansion brings legal challenges. Stay tuned.