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Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna (Paywall)
Wall Street Journal ^ | 8/2/2017 | Ryan Knutson

Posted on 08/03/2017 5:04:40 PM PDT by RightGeek

Cord-cutters accustomed to watching shows online are often shocked that $20 ‘rabbit ears’ pluck signals from the air; is this legal?

“I was just kind of surprised that this is technology that exists,” says Mr. Sisco, 28 years old. “It’s been awesome. It doesn’t log out and it doesn’t skip.”

Let’s hear a round of applause for TV antennas, often called “rabbit ears,” a technology invented roughly seven decades ago, long before there was even a cord to be cut, which had been consigned to the technology trash can along with cassette tapes and VCRs.

The antenna is mounting a quiet comeback, propelled by a generation that never knew life before cable television, and who primarily watch Netflix , Hulu and HBO via the internet. Antenna sales in the U.S. are projected to rise 7% in 2017 to nearly 8 million units, according to the Consumer Technology Association, a trade group.

Mr. Sisco, an M.B.A. student in Provo, Utah, made his discovery after inviting friends over to watch the Super Bowl in 2014. The online stream he found to watch the game didn’t have regular commercials—disappointing half of his guests who were only interested in the ads.

“An antenna was not even on my radar,” he says. He went online and discovered he could buy one for $20 and watch major networks like ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS free.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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To: RightGeek

Lol.

I was mad when they went digital though. Now distant rural areas can’t get it at all.


21 posted on 08/03/2017 5:28:39 PM PDT by Openurmind
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To: yarddog
LOL! You and I grew up in the same era I guess. I remember seeing my first tv set back in 1947.
Couldn't see it in the daytime cuz picture was too dim.
It belonged to one of my "great uncles". It had a little "round" picture tube.
We had one tv station. It came on the air at noon and went off air at 10pm.
(Why I don't know. It was unwatchable in daylight hours)
Sunday it came on at 4pm and went off at 9pm
22 posted on 08/03/2017 5:29:16 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: stylin19a

My new TV Samsung smart 65” has a tuner..


23 posted on 08/03/2017 5:30:08 PM PDT by Davy Crocket
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To: yarddog
I remember Daddy had a box full of tubes and when one would go out he would take the back off the TV and figure out which tube was bad and replace it.

Some of the local drug stores and variety stores had tube testers you could use for free.

And they sold the most common replacement tubes - most for less than a dollar.


24 posted on 08/03/2017 5:30:44 PM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler (We were Trumpin' before Trumpin' was cool.....)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

I had two of the boxes to convert the digital to my old TVs.

TV sets have become so cheap that I now watch digital on HD TVs. I bought one for well under a hundred dollars and that was all I could afford.

Finally my Daughter bought me a 43 inch HD with 1080 resolution. Now they are going to even higher resolution.


25 posted on 08/03/2017 5:31:57 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: RightGeek

As a someone who started with the CB craze as a 10 year old in the 70’s and eventually evolved to ham it has always been common sense to me. Had to inform a 30 something co-worker on this very subject recently. My 160 meter loop is beyond his comprehension.


26 posted on 08/03/2017 5:32:25 PM PDT by HBAR223
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To: RightGeek

This is a $117 Billion dollar industry currently. That is a lot of jobs. The economy was being bled out with a ton of money going overseas by the previous administrations. There does come a time when the American market dies. This is a symptom, and is nothing to laugh about.


27 posted on 08/03/2017 5:34:11 PM PDT by BlackAdderess (People are going to have to resist splitting into splinter groups if they want to get things done)
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To: Charles Martel

And from my perspective, we are the one’s who went backwards when the swindlers conned everyone into paying for something that was previously free and even paying them now to watch commercials which they’ve already been paid for.

It’s one of the biggest con jobs ever.


28 posted on 08/03/2017 5:34:38 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Charles Martel

And from my perspective, we are the one’s who went backwards when the swindlers conned everyone into paying for something that was previously free and even paying them now to watch commercials which they’ve already been paid for.

It’s one of the biggest con jobs ever.


29 posted on 08/03/2017 5:34:38 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Vlad The Inhaler

Man, I am having flashbacks about vertical holds and horizontal holds.

And TV repairmen who came to the house to fix the TV.


30 posted on 08/03/2017 5:35:46 PM PDT by exit82 (The opposition has already been Trumped!)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Yes they did. But all newer TV’s are digital now. The problem is if there is anything in the way of “Line of sight” like a mountain or if you are more than 30 miles away you are not going to get it. No matter what kind of antenna you have.


31 posted on 08/03/2017 5:35:54 PM PDT by Openurmind
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To: yarddog

I have a booster on my rabbit ears, but I’m thinking about mounting a big one in the attic.


32 posted on 08/03/2017 5:36:35 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: RightGeek

LPs are making a comeback, too. Yes, vinyl albums — and the devices that play them.

“Behold, I make all things new again.”


33 posted on 08/03/2017 5:36:38 PM PDT by TBP (0bama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Davy Crocket

It’s almost surprising over the air still exists in every market. Because of the digital tech local stations can parse their allotted bandwidth into several mini channels pretty cool actually & all you need is an antenna. Hilarious the snowflakes think they discovered something.


34 posted on 08/03/2017 5:37:28 PM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: Fiddlstix

Yes those were the days. A few minutes before the station came on, they had an Indian Chief test screen up. Around 10 they played the national anthem as they signed off for the night. I think they went to midnight before too long and began playing old movies during the last two hours.

The local TV station in Panama City was WJDM. It went off the air so often that people began calling it “Wait Just a Damn Minute”. The station then changed their call letters.


35 posted on 08/03/2017 5:38:04 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: Charles Martel
This was my favorite antenna back in the days. Ice storm took it down and nothing we replaced it with worked nearly as well.

Champion 325-2

36 posted on 08/03/2017 5:38:53 PM PDT by Karl Spooner
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To: Dr. Sivana

“What’s this black stuff on my fingers? How do I get it off?? Aaaaggghhh!!! Help!!”


37 posted on 08/03/2017 5:40:02 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Maine Mariner

Turntables and vinyl, too.


38 posted on 08/03/2017 5:40:25 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: RightGeek

Read this and laughed. But the truth is that the younger generation has no conception of what life was like in this country before the 90’s.


39 posted on 08/03/2017 5:40:51 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Vlad The Inhaler

It could be a ranther shocking experience swapping out tubes for the uninitiated.


40 posted on 08/03/2017 5:41:53 PM PDT by Carthego delenda est
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