WSJ: Millennials discover 'free TV' over the air

[CT_Ohio]

It almost reads like something from The Onion. Not sure why younger viewers singled out; my mother will *not* miss her Columbo reruns on the local broadcast side channel.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/millen...ng-hack-to-get-free-tv-the-antenna-1501686958

excerpt:

Carlos Villalobos, 21, who was selling tube-shaped digital antennas at a swap meet in San Diego recently, says customers often ask if his $20 to $25 products are legal. “They don’t trust me when I say that these are actually free local channels,” he says.


Earlier this year, he got an earful from a woman who didn’t get it. “She was mad,” he recalls. “She says, ‘No, you can’t live in America for free, what are you talking about?’”


Almost a third of Americans (29%) are unaware local TV is available free, according to a June survey by the National Association of Broadcasters, an industry trade group.

 

[invaderzim]

"(29%) are unaware local TV is available free"

And even fewer realize that the picture is better than with cable or satellite because the signal for the one channel doesn't have to be compressed to fit 300 other channels with it.

Plus you can use a relatively cheap PC as a HD DVR to record the programs.

 

[toxcrusadr]

I always wondered if anyone was actually clueless enough to be excited by the infomercials for the $39.99 antenna that lets you get HD TV for free! When you can get a 50 cent rabbit ears at a garage sale or the thrift store. But I guess they continue to be born every minute.

 

[CT_Ohio]

"(29%) are unaware local TV is available free"

And even fewer realize that the picture is better than with cable or satellite because the signal for the one channel doesn't have to be compressed to fit 300 other channels with it.

Plus you can use a relatively cheap PC as a HD DVR to record the programs.

A friend of mine has been running MythTV for years; took some of his better hardware in the early years but now most PC video hardware can deal with HD with ease, a laptop could do it.

 

[the skipper]

Article has me curious but I'm not gonna subscribe to read it but, yes, a lot of the younger generations can't envision TV without cable or internet.

just imagine how they would react if they were forced to use this to communicate.

 

[soundboy]

And even fewer realize that the picture is better than with cable or satellite because the signal for the one channel doesn't have to be compressed to fit 300 other channels with it.

Several years back, I had to put my late father's 1990s 19" Magnavox TV into my garage so that it can entertain my dog while I was away. I hooked up a digital TV converter and a TERK powered TV antenna to the Magnavox and I was shocked at the quality of the picture. I programmed the channels and I got about 30 watchable channels, including a NBC channel dedicated to sports. Unfortunately, I have now moved over the hill and the OTA TV reception just plain sucks.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Was just at mom's in Albuquerque and re-scanned her OTA channels after adjusting the antenna. After deleting Spanish language channels, there were 54 remaining. Granted a lot of them were shopping channels, but there's all the major networks, a weather channel, MeTV, Movies, Ion, Grit, and more. Not too bad for free!

 

[willyrover]

 

[jcamero]

I "wish" my wife and daughter would let me dump cable tv for ota. You just can't beat the price!

 

[ETLS]

Article has me curious but I'm not gonna subscribe to read it but, yes, a lot of the younger generations can't envision TV without cable or internet.

just imagine how they would react if they were forced to use this to communicate.

View attachment 978329

Especially the ones with short cords.

 

[MannyE]

I haven't paid for TV in two years and I've saves a shit-ton of money. The over the air picture is far better than the offerings from DirecTV, cable or U-verse. If I really want to see something I buy it from Amazon Prime and since I have Prime anyway, I don't feel like I'm "getting it from the man" or anything. Recently added Netflix to the mix at 9 bucks a month. Even after a particularly active month of buying TV shows (and paying ONLY for what i want to watch, by the way) I'm no where near the $135 a month I was paying for DirecTV.

I run a Tivo and since I was an early adopter, had a lifetime sub from way back in 1999 and Tivo honored it! They discounted the new lifetime (this was a while back...I hear they stopped offering lifetimes..is that true?) subscription by the $299 it cost back then... pretty cool. So no monthly fee for my OTA Tivo and no fiddling with PC based DVR setups. I know they work, but I don't have the time to build, fiddle, etc. Tivo is so elegant and simple it has no competition (that I know of) yet.

 

[mars_volta]

Droppped the Directv years ago.

Antenna - HD Homerun - MythTV - RPi with OpenElec

 

[restorer-john]

No stinkin cable TV here- it's all UHF. My little amplified indoor dipole gives us about 40-50 channels of free to air DTV and HDTV.

A windows media centre based HTPC and a few tuner sticks gives us plenty of DVR options, not that we record anything much anymore.

 

[soundmotor]

I haven't paid for TV in two years and I've saves a shit-ton of money. The over the air picture is far better than the offerings from DirecTV, cable or U-verse. If I really want to see something I buy it from Amazon Prime and since I have Prime anyway, I don't feel like I'm "getting it from the man" or anything. Recently added Netflix to the mix at 9 bucks a month. Even after a particularly active month of buying TV shows (and paying ONLY for what i want to watch, by the way) I'm no where near the $135 a month I was paying for DirecTV.

How do you get your basic internet hookup and what is the monthly fee? I have 2 internet providers in my area, FIOS (Verizon), and Xfinity (AT&T). Each has slowly bumped their basic internet over the years to where not getting cable channels saves little. (IIRC one was $9.95 if we did not take them and the other was $14.95.) When our FIOS contract expired I went round & round with both companies trying to get around this and could not. Defeated I re-signed with FIOS. If you are streaming Netflix, Prime, or another, you are using their pipes and they make you pay for that.

 

[soundmotor]

It almost reads like something from The Onion.

Man, you ain't kidding -

Dan Sisco has discovered a technology that allows him to access half a dozen major TV channels, completely free.

 

[BillyTheKid]

I've always had a massive rooftop antenna , with the brown box that controls the rotor. Once the switch went over to digital, it just meant more channels and a better picture for me. It's used mostly for local news and sports. Another added benefit is great FM reception as well.

Since most network tv is not worth watching, our evening viewing is thru a firestick or a pc.

I've thought about using a pc for a dvr....but what's worth recording that isn't already on the internet somewhere ?

 

[soundmotor]

I've thought about using a pc for a dvr....but what's worth recording that isn't already on the internet somewhere ?

That really does sum it up. The simple truth it that it is somewhere, available to stream, and likely free.

The only counter to that though is convenience. Some of the current season shows (AMC, FX, SyFy) drop eps on-demand as the season progresses. If you miss them, they don't reappear until they run the season again. Certainly you can find them elsewhere if you search but it is easier if you banked them on DVR.

 

[the skipper]

I would prefer to depend on OTA but sometimes it just ain't gonna happen. When I lived 9 miles outside of NYC I could picj up 35 useable stations, many HD with a 45 year-old rooftop. antenna.

Now, here in the boonies, I get only five channels, two networks (CW & CBS), two Mexican, the NASA channel. As for a big ass antenna I'm 95 miles from Houston and Waco. 110 from Austin, 170 from San Antonio, and 180 to Dallas, all in different directions.

Dunno how I'd handle setting up the digital tuner in a TV for each direction change, assuming I could get the signals to begin with.

 

[dosmalo]

Article has me curious but I'm not gonna subscribe to read it but, yes, a lot of the younger generations can't envision TV without cable or internet.

just imagine how they would react if they were forced to use this to communicate.

View attachment 978329

You don't use those to communicate with. You use those to bludgeon people to death.

 

[MannyE]

How do you get your basic internet hookup and what is the monthly fee? I have 2 internet providers in my area, FIOS (Verizon), and Xfinity (AT&T). Each has slowly bumped their basic internet over the years to where not getting cable channels saves little. (IIRC one was $9.95 if we did not take them and the other was $14.95.) When our FIOS contract expired I went round & round with both companies trying to get around this and could not. Defeated I re-signed with FIOS. If you are streaming Netflix, Prime, or another, you are using their pipes and they make you pay for that.

I have always been a heavy internet user anyway so the cost of internet was always in addition to the cost of the pay TV. I have spoken to Google internet, which is poised to disrupt the oligarchic stranglehold these asshole companies have on the pipes. But for the moment, my monthly internet costs $47 or so a month.

It true, however that the cost has been going up and up from 30 something to 40 something in less than two years. But I would still be paying it in addition to the exorbitant DirecTV fees anyway.