Isn't that a valid use of the non-profit status? That as long as the funding from donations was going towards that expansion only, it can still be considered a non-profit? Looking at the quick Wikipedia definition, that seems to be the case, if you consider Locast's mission is to provide retransmission of OTA broadcasts to all people in the US.
> "A second misconception is that nonprofit organizations may not make a profit. Although the goal of nonprofits isn't specifically to maximize profits, they still have to operate as a fiscally responsible business. They must manage their income (both grants and donations and income from services) and expenses so as to remain a fiscally viable entity. Nonprofits have the responsibility of focusing on being professional, financially responsible, replacing self-interest and profit motive with mission motive." [1]
PBS is also a non-profit, but PBS does something similar in that certain content is locked behind their "PBS Passport" subscription. If this ruling that requiring donations view without interruption, then PBS is also violating non-profit status based on your statement regarding "Locast chose not to operate like a non-profit." But Locast attempted to resolve that and remove the interruptions entirely, but was still required to completely shutdown and was given 0 chance to adjust... My understanding about hte reasoning for shutting down is that using collected funds, via any means, expansion across the US isn't allowed for some questionable reason under the section of the law Locast was using.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonprofit_organization#Managem...
