Posted on 01/15/2019 2:40:05 PM PST by Openurmind
About one in seven American households is watching old-fashioned, over-the-air television broadcasts, an increasingly appealing choice for former cable customers who have “cut the cord” but still want to catch up with their local news and network stations.
The new data from market research firm Nielsen shows that over-the-air viewing increased to 14% of all homes last year from 9% in 2010. At the same time, the percentage of households subscribing to cable or satellite TV peaked at 88% in 2010 and has since sunk to 79%, according to surveys by the Leichtman Research Group. Catching free over-the-air broadcasts simply by adding an antenna that cost $50 or less likely appeals to many cord cutters who dropped cable TV because it was too expensive.
What’s not to like? Free TV, better choice of programs.
The old joke “200 channels and nothing is on” is truer than ever.
There are a couple of channels that show old shows that I really don’t want to let go, through.
On a Black and White Zenith television?
There are a helluva lot of channels available over the air now.
Nothing worth watching on broadcast TV.
We didn’t have to cut the cord. No cable here in the sticks.
Looked at satellite TV. Would consider if it was a la carte. Otherwise, no sale.
We have double-R service. Rabbit ears and Roku.
Reality: very much range and line of sight limited.
I tried the super duper digital OTA antenna, good for 75 miles (we are 53 as the crow flies) and got zero channels.
Returned it to Best Buy. GEEKSQUAD guy said they got a LOT of returns on them.
You might be able to get those channels or very similar ones through Amazon Prime. for less than $10.00 a month.
With a harmonic remote there was a reason it was called a clicker
The variety of digital broadcast even in mid-sized cities is really surprising. If you haven’t scanned to see what’s out there in a few years give it a try. There are a good thirty of them here, all manner of programming. Classic sitcoms and old movies predominate.
I have always had over the air broadcasts. I am looking to replace my ancient and damaged old outside antenna.
Reading up on them I was surprised to learn that if you get a strong signal, quality will often be better than cable or satellite.
And when it went digital there became a lot more channels.
I dumped cable in 1994.
Snow and static are a thing of the past with digital broadcast. You have pretty much a crystal clear signal. When it gets too weak it will pixelate, freeze and break up, then just nothing, it’s gone. Sort of all or nothing.
Ping.
Cable forces us to pay for channels we don’t use, nor want. Most everything on cable is bias opposite to what my personal perspectives are. They cram more commercials it seems than does free over the air TV into every program. It’s just not worth it for what is being broadcast on cable. No more.
It’s truly sad when one has to choose ones entertainment by political perspectives. Damn shame.
FREE!.....................................
It will go up even more once nutfux raises it’s monthly fee and people drop the obama channel.
I remember when there actually was ‘MUSIC’ on Music Television (MTV)........................
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