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 ...
It’s funnier because the article is behind a paywall...
So funny!
Remember when the six or so shows a week that you wanted to watch were free instead of $40+?
Holy crap is this true???
Yep roadside printers and private cell phone houses.
I’ve read several articles on this the last couple of days. There are kids out there that think there’s something kinckey/illegal about it.
They are that frick’n clueless.
Changed my tagline.
Maybe we should put up tables in movie lobbies so folks can sign petitions to ban free TV.
and phone booths and travelers checks!
Newer TVs don’t have tuners. To do an antenna on those, a tuner will have to be bought.
I see ads all the time for a cheap antenna. It lets people in on a secret government program which allows you to get programs without paying a cent.
I remember when we got our first TV around 1952. We lived in Panama City and the station did not come on until around dusk. One day a kid told me they were going to start being on all day.
My immediate thought was “how will you be able to see it in the daylight?”
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.
Where I live now, that cheap antenna they are advertising would only get one station. I still have the old outside antenna and it picks up around 15 channels.
Speaking of frink'n clueless, I recall on the big ramp up for pay tv/cable tv, it was all billed as "Commercial free" content and on and on.
When they finally swindled people to pay for TV and then pay to watch their commercials which have already been paid for...That's wasn't enough to they forced all the sucker to buy into these "bundle plans" essentially forcing people to pay for things they neither want nor need.
Also, isn’t it true that a few years ago, TV broadcast changed from analog to digital? I heard that you need a converter box to watch over the air broadcasts.
Moot point for me as I have satellite TV and nothing changed for me. But I recall this subject being in the news a few years back.
Saw a commercial for a product called “FreeTV”.
It was an antenna.
Never used the word antenna in the commercial.
Too funny.
Next thing they will be telling us about a discovery where you can drill a hole in the ground to get drinking water.
***BlackAdderess smiles to herself***
One thing that a lot of people don’t get, that the amazingly awesome President Donald Trump totally gets, is that a generation of people who were raised (quite often) by single moms, are very well equipped to economize when wages are stagnate and student loans and healthcare costs are trending ever upwards.
Just checked 4K uhd tv’s. The lg I looked at had an rf/cable input. A tuner must be in there.
And given the renewed interest in broadcast tv by cable cutters, you can bet the tv mfg. will retain the functionality.
Wait’ll they find out about the big outdoor antennas with motorized rotators for optimizing reception. It’s like something backwards-engineered at Area 51, I tell ya...
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