TV antennas are making a comeback in the age of digital streaming

[Zorro]

Karl Rudnick, a retired 69-year-old mathematician who lives in Solana Beach, Calif., recently bought a second home outside Minneapolis to be close to family members. He did not have to draw on his knowledge of advanced calculus to reject the idea of paying for two cable TV subscriptions.

“I talked to the cable companies and asked if there was a way to have one account,” Rudnick said. “There wasn’t, and all of a sudden I was looking at spending $300 a month just to have internet and TV.”

After doing some research, Rudnick decided on a throwback solution to bring down his monthly outlay without giving up the TV programming he liked. He purchased two TV antennas for about $80 each. He installed one in the attic of each house, giving him access to ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and dozens of other broadcast channels for free. At his West Coast home, he was able to connect the antenna to the cable company’s coaxial wires.

The TV antenna is a piece of 20th century technology that evokes memories of rabbit ears placed atop the mahogany cabinet of the old Zenith in your grandparents’ living room. But Rudnick is among a growing number of consumers who are turning to over-the-air digital antennas — a one-time investment of as little as $20 — as a way to slash their monthly video subscription costs.

https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-tv-antennas-20181228-story.html

[manor321]

1. I gave up cable this year

I have a Roku device with YouTube TV so I can watch MSNBC.

And I'm lucky since I live close to the local network antennas so I have an inexpensive indoor antenna that sits by my window. I get local channels without having to stream (even though YouTube TV also has my local channels).

[hlthe2b]

4. Isn't YouTube TV $40/month? Might I ask what you are doing for internet access?

[manor321]

13. Comcast. See my comment below.

[TexasProgresive]

5. Who provides your internet service that you can use Roku?

I live in a rural area without cable or any internet except satellite. unless you have a fat wallet you ain't streaming on satellite.

[manor321]

10. I have Comcast internet

Yes, YouTube TV is $42 per month. I have faster internet thru Comcast partly because I work from home several times per month (as a developer).

So it is not cheap, but my total bill is now about $80 per month cheaper than what it used to be.

[janx]

56. I haven't had cable for years and use Roku for

Netflix and Prime--movies, documentaries, etc. I have to pay for Netflix and Prime, but it's nothing like paying for cable.

[TexasProgresive]

57. I'm think you are still connected to a cable company for internet.

You may have cut the TV portion but are still connected to them for that service. I don't have that option as there is only satellite internet service in the rural area I live. I don't think mobile internet would be a good option either even with unlimited data.

[janx]

58. Oh, I misunderstood you. I pay $35 a month for internet from Century Link.

So technically it's not a cable company; it's a phone/internet company. I don't know if that's available in your rural location.

[TexasProgresive]

65. Nope- only satellite from ViaSat or Hughsnet.

Both are expensive for what you get and have tight data caps, so no streaming or cute cat videos.

[EffieBlack]

7. How did virtually every piece of technology in our lives go from wired to wireless EXCEPT television

which used to be wireless but now require corded connections.

Back in the day, we picked up all of our signals wirelessly with our rabbit ears antenna. Now you have to be connected to the wall with two or three other contraptions attached in between. Meanwhile, everything else - phones audio devices, computers, etc. - went from relying on electrical cords to being wireless.

[onenote]

18. How many channels did you have back in the day?

And how does that compare to the array of options you have today?

For many people back in the day meant three national network affiliates, a non commercial station and one or two “independent” stations that mostly broadcast reruns. In more rural areas the choices were even more limited and for some of the channels reception was dicey at best

[SharonAnn]

29. 90% of my available cable channels are junk. Shopping, religious, and I don't watch sports.

So I pay a lot and get lots of channels I don't want.

[LiberalFighter]

60. What is bothersome

is that back in the day commercials paid for the OTA channels. They still do. But those on cable still have commercials for everything except HBO, Showtime and other similar movie channels.

[onenote]

63. ads only cover a portion of ota stations' costs these days

Since 1993,broadcasters have been able to force cable and satellite to pay in order to carry broadcast stations over the air. In 2018, those payments were in excess of $8.4 billion. While advertising produces more revenue than retransmission consent fees, those fees end up being passed to subscribers. Thus, broadcast stations and cable networks both rely on a mixture of ad revenue and cable/satellite fees .

Moreover, back in the day, local stations received "network comp" as a supplement to ad sales -- payments from the networks that supplied the programming (and took a portion of the revenue from ad sold during network programming. Today, the money flows in the other direction - the networks insist on getting paid by their affiliates, often out of the retransmission consent fees the stations charge cable and satellite.

[uncle ray]

19. you CAN still use those rabbit ears and get the same old broadcast channels.

i do in fact.

[llmart]

27. I do too.

I get enough local channels to suit me. I also have a Roku.

This obsession with people having hundreds of channels seems silly to me. Don't people have other things to do or hobbies or good books to read? I watch a bit more TV in the winter but in the good weather months I rarely turn it on other than to catch my local weather forecast in the morning while drinking my coffee.

[thesquanderer]

38. I lost that functionality when they switched from analog to digital OTB

I haven't had television since then. But I hadn't been watching much anyway.

[uncle ray]

39. you must have an ancient tv and no converter box.

i've been using a ten year old tv with rabbit ears, and bought a new smart tv for christmas this year, and am still using the same 30 year old rabbit ears. rabbit ears receive digital broadcasts, as does pretty much any old tv antenna. of course you may be in a rural or mountainous area and need an outdoor antenna mounted high, but if that's the case you probably needed that before the switch to digital.

[thesquanderer]

40. It was a distance thing. But that's not the only possible problem.

I'm pretty far from the broadcast locations (50+ miles?) in slightly hilly terrain. My OTA reception was not great, but it was watchable. With analog, there's a gradual degradation. With digital, you get great reception... until you get nothing. So in a borderline area, analog could get you something while digital gets you nothing. Though you're right that I might be able to fix it with a good outdoor antenna.

But my girlfriend at the time had the opposite problem. She was in the city, super-close but with lots of tall buildings around. She got all the analog stations fine with rabbit ears, but far fewer when it went digital. It wasn't that she was far, but apparently the "line of sight vs. building reflections" requirements are different. Again, it was probably a difference between being able to get something "good enough" for analog, but not for digital. But she was also not much of a TV watcher and just lived with it.

[pangaia]

51. Only if you live close enough to broadcast stations.

I have tried the 'best,' 'most expensive' atennas, attic antenna, etc.. I am a bit too far and there are high ridges between me and ABC, NBC, CBS, (FOX---sshhh) etc..


I quit Time Warner and never watched much TV anyway. so... I'm stuck with DU.

[erronis]

53. Me too. Stuck with DU. Sigh.....

It's great. I think I get links to the videos I want here, and if not, there will be something new to replace it.

The bright flashiest feeds will have new ones tomorrow. As long as the world keeps on turning.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

22. i get about 38 channels

Build yourself a Gray-Hoverman antenna and see what's available.

https://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/

http://www.jedsoft.org/fun/antennas/dtv/gh.html

I built a copy of the original GH antenna for my garage and, for my house, a GH8n from:

http://clients.teksavvy.com/~nickm/gh_n_uV/gh8n_6V9_14u2.html

Since there are no VHF stations around, I could have built a simpler UHF-only model:

http://clients.teksavvy.com/~nickm/gh_u.html


Many people live close enough to broadcast towers they could pick up HD broadcasts with just a bare wire. (Which would likely outperform those "magic" antennas advertised on tv).

[stopbush]

8. Me too. Dumped DirecTV last month when my bill went from $75 to $136 a month

to maintain the same channels (I haggled them into a steep discount a year ago by threatening to leave. That deal had expired. The best DIirectTV could offer was reduced channels at $95 a month).

We have two TVs on Roku and a new LG smart TV, all connect to WiFi (ATT). We pay $47 a month for YTTV with the Showtime add on. YTTV allows access to three devices at the same time. Of course, if you’re streaming Netflix, Hulu, amazon or whatever on one or more TVs, that’s independent from YTTV.

I will never go back to cable/satellite.

[csziggy]

32. Sling is cheaper than what you say you pay for YouTube TV

Sling (blue channel) is $25 per month and their news package is $5 additional.

I also use a Roku device for streaming.

Sling Blue Channel carries most of the standard cable channels. The news package has BBC (NOT BBC America), MSNBC, Bloomberg TV (which my husband likes), and a number of other news channels.

[manor321]

36. Sling also has an extra $5 charge for the DVR. And I believe another charge to get all locals

YouTube TV includes a DVR with unlimited recording. The recordings last for 9 months.

What's cool is that you can cancel most of these services at any time, so we can keep comparing.

[csziggy]

41. I don't use their DVR service

It's not worth it to me since I seldom used the DVR service I had with Prism TV. Most of what I watch now are old TV shows which are not showing live so DVR is redundant. Some days I have MSNBC on in the background and my husband does that with Bloomberg.

Our market is small enough that the streaming services do not offer the local channels. If I want to watch them I will have to put in a digital antenna - and the little ones will not get the local PBS stations. After we remodel our house next year I might put a digital antenna on the roof. That would get it above the ridge to our west that blocks the PBS signal and we can connect it to our old house wide system to send the signal to all the TVs.

[NickB79]

49. Also a Sling user

Between Sling, Roku (came free with my Sling subscription), Hulu and Netflix, I've got all the TV my family could ever want for half the cost of DirecTV.

Plus, there's always the library DVD selection and Redbox.

Besides, how much TV can a person really watch? I'm too busy being outside, enjoying my hobbies, spending time with my daughter, or reading to watch more than 2 hrof TV a day.

[csziggy]

52. Because of my health problems I watch a lot of TV a day

So I use the heck out of my Roku! And even with upping our broadband to 40 Mps it's cheaper than what we were paying and we're getting more with Sling, Acorn, Britbox, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

I'm catching up on series I never got to see all of (Inspector Lynley, Inspector Lewis, and that type of stuff, old Doctor Who (on Britbox), and finding new to me series - Silent Witness and Wycliffe).

Maybe once my back is fixed and I can exercise again I will watch less, but right now I watch while I am on DU, scanning old photos, or doing needlework.

[brush]

2. I'm thinking about trying this. Plus, I might finally ditch my land phone line...

and save two-thirds of my Cox monthly bill—I'll just be paying for internet.

[manor321]

11. I ditched my landline as well. :)

All I was getting was spam calls and they all stopped.

[erronis]

54. I get 1-2/day spam calls on my Verizon Wireless account

They're really easy to ignore but still a PITA. I always block the # without listening to the message.

Strange that VZW and other carriers aren't blocking these spam calls for us.

Or maybe just normal money-making.

[Mosby]

3. isnt broadcast tv going to end soon?

[CaptainTruth]

15. No, not digital terrestrial broadcast. In fact the ATSC standard is being updated to v3.0

ATSC 3.0 will have 4k resolution.

In my former life as an electrical engineer I helped develop the audio standards for ATSC 1.0, or "HDTV"

[moondust]

61. Question, Cap'n:

I've searched Google and waded through a lot of sites but still can't figure out if my older ATSC 1.0 OTA antenna will pick up ATSC 3.0 signals. Any idea? Will I also need a new 3.0 receiver that will do 4K or will the older receivers still work if they're not 4K (obviously not producing a 4K image)?

Any hints welcome! Thanks!

[subterranean]

6. I did this several years ago, and have saved a bundle.

I get all the major networks in high-definition, plus many sub-channels that I never watch. Almost all the cable programs are available from Hulu or other sources. The only reason not to switch is if you live far from any major cities or in a place with poor reception due to physical barriers.

[AllaN01Bear]

9. i gave up cable three years ago after an apartment remod .

i cant get over the air televison as we are in a bowl and have 3000 foot mountains around us . so i watch dvds and youtube vids. a friend of mine who lives several miles from me and up near 3000 feet , has a 360 degree view of the sky and can get 60 plus chanels . (however most are home shopping network stations .) my sis who lives in los angles lives near mt wilson which is a major spot for tv transmitting antennas can get lots of signals . le sigh.

[yankeepants]

12. I have never had cable or dish

Netflix, Amazon, and antenna TV. Internet through phone co. $60 a month total.

[doc03]

14. If you have Dish and you can get the local channels on an antenna

Dish will knock $12 a month off your bill. A friend of mine has a home in Ohio and one in Florida he only pays one bill for Direct TV. He has a dish at each home he just calls them when he changes locations.

[underpants]

16. We have one. HD antenna

Works great. All the local stations actually have 3 channels usually with a repeat channel (old tv shows) included. We also get 4 PBS stations.

[NutmegYankee]

31. There really is no such thing as a HD antenna.

I know many are marketed as such, but I can pick up digital stations with a half wave wire or rabbit ears. The only feature of modern "HD" antennas is that since almost all digital TV stations were moved to the UHF frequency bands, these antennas are designed to work best at those frequencies. Rabbit ears worked best on VHF frequencies.

My antenna of choice right now is the DB8e.

[pintobean]

17. Never got rid of our rooftop antenna

It's probably been up there since the 60s. Works great.
Stopped using Directv and a land line about 6 years ago.

[LeftInTX]

20. I got an antenna for Christmas

I've got family visiting, so will set it up after they leave.

My son gets local (San Antonio) and I believe Austin stations.

[WeekiWater]

44. You can find websites that will tell you exactly where the closest broadcast antennas are.

It’s very helpful when setting it up. Also consider where cables have been ran in the house if it once had cable. I was able to use the existing cable running into the house to connect to my antenna. It was already split to all rooms in the house. It was extremely easy but I was also lucky that the existing main cable box is on the side of my house I wanted to place the antenna. Of course it matters what kind of antenna. I have an exterior wall mount that isn’t extended above the roof. Direction was very important.

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. At the end of the day, how much time

do you really want to spend watching TV? I was giving blood recently and they have it set up so you can watch a little TV while you have the needle in your arm. And they had cable and HBO! But I scrolled through the menu for 5 minutes before I found anything remotely interesting. I ended up watching Animal Planet. There are plenty of things to watch online without paying for cable and there's always Redbox for recent movies.

[CountAllVotes]

23. Got rid of it about a month ago

I watch online as I found some good links and I get a lot of stuff for free.

Not for free and use of the TV's is a MOHO LEAF antenna.

You can pick one of these up for about $20.00.

That is what I did.

You tack it on the wall and plug it in where the cable once was.

Be sure to set the TV for air if you can find such a setting.

Scan for channels and, you are set!

It comes it a lot better now that it did WITH the crummy cable TV.

As it now stands I pay $34.95 for my internet connect and zero for cable. Still have a land line that I pay about $6.00/month for.

Yippee! FREE of this scum!

[TeeYiYi]

50. Try this...

Try connecting your internet cable to your tv, to see if you get any channels. If so... get yourself a splitter.

TYY

[LunaSea]

24. Some DIY plans for the crafty-

These things are quite easy to build, we've been using the "bowtie" antennas for years.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/build-diy-hdtv-antenna/

https://www.instructables.com/howto/hd+tv+antenna/

[Roland99]

25. Cut the cord summer of 2010

[dembotoz]

26. Antenna plus sling

Thru a Roku stick

Working well enough

Could perhaps dump sling but I do watch a ton of Brewers baseball

[StarryNite]

28. Never had cable or dish.

Antenna in the attic works for us. I love our landline though. I prefer it to my cellphone.

[Jersey Devil]

30. I get just about everything streamed for $15 per month

I use a provider called Vader Streams, available through most resellers for around $15 per month, some a few bucks higher or lower depending on the reseller. I get all the networks, including networks locals from all over the country, almost all the cable channels and sports channels with a few exceptions, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, Sky Cinema (from the UK), all the NFL Games including Sunday Ticket, all MLB games for every team, all the soccer, track, hockey you can think of plus the entire NBA and college football/basketball networks from everywhere.

Is it legal? I don't know. As far as I know in the US receiving a stream is not considered a copyright violation (like it is in the UK) unless you are downloading or seeding for downloads so ultimate users probably are not at risk, though I am not absolutely certain about it, which is why I use a VPN.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

33. $300 a month for internet and TV?

I pay $218 a month for internet, TV and phone. I thought that was a lot.

[royable]

34. I think that $300 was the sum of what he'd have to pay for cable in two separate locations. n/t

[Revanchist]

35. I had to go back to cable

Moved to an area where there's only one over the air station so I donated my antenna to a friend

[akraven]

37. That's all we have way out where we are.

No cable available, but we get the big 3 (mostly) and PBS. Two downstairs and one in the upstairs.

[Wrz]

42. Poor quality

Whether its coaxial based providers, IPTV, or satellite they are all bitrate starved I've noticed. That means picture artifacts like macroblocking are evident. That and I don't put up with commercials anymore made me cut the cord many years ago. I primarily watch TV shows and movies via Blu-ray discs that I rip to my hard drive and watch from a computer that's connected to my HDTV that uses madVR for scaling for highest possible picture quality - it can also scale 1080p to 4K.

Even before streaming providers arrived I would download and watch things commercial-free and favored this over watching on my set top/cable box. It was better quality and commercial-free to go the Home Theater PC route and I've done so since 2003. Now I have gigabit internet access.

I've no interest in non-scripted programming of any kind, especially sports, so no loss for me. Occasionally I do want live news coverage but there's ways to get CNN Go, MSNBC, etc without terrestrial TV service.

Some TV shows I get from Amazon as they have near Blu-ray quality in picture.

Never again will I watch a TV show live with commercials. And I am not going to subsidize either Fox 'News' or ESPN by subscribing to terrestrial non-a-la-carte TV service.

[roamer65]

46. Providers like Comcrap are pushing their internet services for business.

That means they compress the hell out of TV service or bandwidth starve it. I’ve noticed it over the last year or so. More interruption and macroblocking.

[WeekiWater]

43. I've been rocking an antenna for years.

I couldn’t justify the cost of cable. I have a very nice smart TV and do have internet access. I’m never at a loss for options. My antenna brings in over fifty channels. Only about seven or eight have any value to me. I only pay for internet and Prime.

[in2herbs]

45. Have never subscribed to cable. Have always had just a plain old antenna. nt

[hunter]

47. I've built antennas. Last I checked we got more than twenty channels, but why?

I think once you quit television you never go back.

Our television plays Netflix over an inexpensive medium speed DSL connection, and DVDs. That's all it does. The only television commercials I see are posted here on DU as YouTube videos. I block moving noisy commercials on my computers too.

On the rare occasions I'm trapped in waiting room or motel breakfast room hell I'll always ask if I can turn the television off. Most of the time nobody is watching that shit anyways and I'm tall enough to reach the power switch or pull the plug.

[Kaleva]

48. $128.16 a month for landline & cell phone, internet, Netflix, Hulu and Great Courses Plus

[tammywammy]

55. I have the digital antenna too.

That gets me all the local channels. I like a local station for news, traffic and weather in the morning before work. I use Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime for everything else.

[dalton99a]

62. Kick

[Polybius]

64. Cable in 2018 is like the telephone company in 1993

We are almost at the end of high expenses. In a few years, it will cost next to nothing. Remember calling cross-country 25 years ago for about a dollar a minute? Now it’s unlimited. Well soon $200+ cable bills will be a thing of the past. Soon you’ll get cable in every part of the house for $50. It might take something like a TV version “MagicJack” to do it, but it will be done by 2025. Bookmark it.

[Polybius]

66. Kick

Some great info here.