Rabbit ears are back! Antenna sales back on the rise as millennials are shocked to discover broadcast TV is FREE

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Rabbit ears are back! Antenna sales back on the rise as millennials are shocked to discover broadcast TV is FREE

  • Dan Sisco discovered the limits of online streaming when he invited his friends over to watch the Super Bowl in 2014 and missed out on the advertisements
  • He invested in a $20 antenna in time for the 2015 Super Bowl, saying: ‘ I was just kind of surprised that this is technology that exists. It’s been awesome’
  • A shocking 29 percent of Americans are unaware that local TV stations are free, according to the National Association of Broadcasters
  • A federal legislation in 2009 forcing broadcasters to switch from analog signals to high-definition digital transmissions has confused people of all ages 
  • While old TVs were unable to receive the new digital signals, it didn’t mean they were gone completely, like many assumed
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GfK Research Study Reveals Time Spent with Traditional TV is 16% Greater than Time Spent with all other Media Platforms Combined

Comprehensive Results of the Study will be Presented on September 29 at Forward 2016 – Broadcast Television’s Annual Leadership Conference

September 07, 2016 10:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GfK, a trusted leader in market research, in collaboration with TVB, the not-for-profit trade association for local broadcast television, today announced preliminary results from the “Media Comparisons 2016” research study with findings that American consumers spend more time with television than all other ad-supported media platforms combined. The study also revealed that consumers overwhelmingly trust local broadcast TV news over any other source.

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US TV: erosion, not implosion

TMT Predictions 2016

Deloitte Global predicts that the US traditional television market, the world’s largest at about $170 billion in 2016, will see erosion on at least five fronts: the number of pay-TV subscribers; pay-TV penetration as a percent of total population; average pay-TV monthly bill; consumers switching to antennas for watching TV; and live and time-shifted viewing by the overall population, and especially by trailing millennials (18-24 years old).

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Survey says: streaming in, cable out


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Press Release: FreeTVFresno.Com Asks Valley Viewers for Participation

Fresno, CA – FreeTVFresno.Com (a local website educating viewers about free, over-the-air broadcast television) is encouraging local viewers to participate in the Central Valley TV Viewership Survey now through Saturday, September 10, 2016.  The valuable input collected by this survey will help content providers evaluate shifts in TV viewing habits here in the Central Valley.  Viewers participating in the survey will be given an opportunity to enter a drawing to win a 50″ 1080p LED HD TV immediately after submitting their survey entry.

The survey may be accessed by visiting: https://www.freetvfresno.com/survey

“We believe that the results of this survey will paint a more accurate picture of the changing viewing habits of Central Valley viewers.” stated Mark Shirin, President/CEO, Ventura Broadcasting Company, one of the media partners promoting the survey.  “The feedback will be extremely valuable in helping content providers  and networks understand and analyze local viewing trends such as cord-cutting, streaming video, and digital antenna growth.” concluded Shirin.

Important Dates to Remember:

  • Entry Deadline is – Saturday, September 10, 2016
  • Winner Announcement – Monday, September 12, 2016
  • Last Day to Claim Prize – Monday, September 19, 2016

Entry Rules:
1. You must be 18 years of age or older.
2. Must be able to pick-up your prize from:

Ventura TV Video Appliance Center
3619 E. Ventura Ave, Fresno, CA 93702

3. Must be able to claim prize in person within seven (7) days of announcement.
4. Duplicate entries will only count as one entry.

Survey results and analysis will be published on the FreeTVFresno.Com website at a later date.

For more information, inquiries may be submitted online at FreeTVFresno.Com or by sending an email to info@freetvfresno.com

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Review of the Channel Master DVR+

Free over-the-air TV forms a huge part of what we cover here on Cordcutting.com, and for good reason. Surveys show that cord cutters are increasingly awakening to the potential of OTA TV, which offers many cord cutters the chance to watch local news and major network broadcasts for free.

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HOT OFF THE PRESS! More data on over-the-air reception and trends.

Fresno numbers are much higher than the national average.  Almost four in ten homes with an 18- to 34-year-old resident rely on broadcast-only or Internet-only alternatives.

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Nielsen: Diaries Finally On The Way Out

By Adam Buckman
TVNewsCheck, September 18, 2014 3:55 PM EDT

Nielsen’s diary-based system for measuring local TV viewership — a system that has been in place in one way or another for at least 60 years — is beginning to be dismantled and will “eventually” be retired, TVNewsCheck has learned.

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It’s a huge movement. It’s becoming cool not to pay for bloated cable subscriptions.

It’s a huge movement. It’s becoming cool not to pay for bloated cable subscriptions. The internet has made cable obsolete and cable companies know this but they don’t want you to know. Why pay for what you don’t use? It’s invisible clutter. My cable bill was $280 per month and now I pay $77 (not including the subscription services, some of which I was paying for already). You may not save as much as I’m saving because you may not have been paying as much. If you can save an amount that makes a difference in your life and you can meet your home entertainment needs, then why not give it a try? Here’s how I did it:

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Do you really need cable?

How much do you pay for cable? The first year with a new cable or satellite provider is generally affordable with the generous promotions, upgrades, and free channels provided. However, after the promotional period ends, our bills always see to creep up a bit more here and there.

Every year the bloating gets larger — an extra fee for that second box we hardly use, all the movie channels that we don’t watch often, the amount of taxes and additional fees we have to pay, and so on.

All of this leads me to my next question. Have you ever thought about cutting the cord on cable or your satellite provider?

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Should you cut the cord?

By Jill Cataldo CTW Features
April 12, 2016

Dear Jill: I would be interested to hear your thoughts on cable or satellite television. I feel like our cable service is not worth what we are paying for it, but I don’t know what other options we have other than satellite, which costs about the same. I don’t feel like we are ready to completely cancel it, but I also don’t know what to do about the bill continually spiraling. — Robin S.

I’m sure this will surprise no one, but I’m a big fan of free, over-the-air television. Our family never had cable when I was growing up (that was a luxury to enjoy at friends’ houses!) and so my perspective on paying for television is likely somewhat different than those who have never known a world without cable or satellite TV at home. Even now, we have a rooftop antenna on our house, and the antenna has been the primary source of television reception for the majority of the years we’ve lived as a family.

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Of Cable, Congress and Cockroaches

Mohu study puts pay TV near bottom of food chain

Author: Mike Farrell

Digital antenna maker Mohu released a consumer satisfaction study Wednesday that seems to fly in the face of industry efforts to improve customer service, with respondents putting their cable company just a step ahead of Congress and disease-carrying vermin.

According to the survey, 50% of respondents said they held an unfavorable view toward their cable company, compared to 72% that said they had an unfavorable opinion of Congress and 92% that said they did not enjoy the company of cockroaches. No word on where rats, ringworm, or the Senate ranked in the study.

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As Viewers Move Away From Cable to Watch Live Sports, Watch the Dominoes Fall

By Sean Pendergast
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 6 a.m.

In team sports, to fans and spectators, ultimate victory is a simple concept. One winner takes home one trophy each season in each sport. Peyton Manning’s hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy, confetti raining down onto the Villanova basketball team after their title-winning buzzer beater — to fans, those are the images of success.

Behind the scenes, though, to the power brokers and franchise owners who move the chess pieces in our sports universe, true “victory” is far more inclusive. To them, success is measured in dollars, and while only one team can lift the trophy at the end of each season, for several years now, the money has piled up sky-high for every single team owner and major college president, regardless of how good or bad their teams have been.

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Local Broadcast Television Scores Big Ratings Win With NFL Playoffs Viewers Overwhelmingly Prefer NFL on Local Stations Versus Cable

Download PowerPoint | TVB Press Release

“… local broadcast television remains the preferred outlet for NFL viewership”

TVB President and CEO, Steve Lanzano stated, “Game after game and season after season, ratings data confirms that local broadcast television remains the preferred outlet for NFL viewership. This year’s Thursday Night Football airings were another tremendous win for local affiliate stations, with local CBS household ratings and male 25-54 ratings as high as 13 times and 10 times greater, respectively, than viewership on NFLN. Local television continues to dominate the live sports category with reach, engagement and influence that remains unrivaled by any other platform, providing marketers with a unique opportunity to optimize the results of their brand promotion, especially during the NFL season when fans and viewers are highly engaged with this immensely popular programming.”

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Cable channel blacked out? Antenna TV still free for the taking

Ron Hurtibise, Contact Reporter
Sun Sentinel

So you’re an AT&T U-verse customer and you flipped on your TV to watch this month’s NFL playoffs — only to discover a static screen and a message that “This channel is temporarily unavailable and we are working to return it to you soon.”

You might have checked the news and learned the channel was blacked out due to a transmission fee dispute between WSVN, Miami’s Fox affiliate, and AT&T.

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When Cable Outages Hit, HDTV Antennas Provide Back-Up

By Anne Badalamenti
GoMohu.Com

Time Warner Cable Outage Strikes Carolinas

Over the weekend, thousands of Time Warner Cable subscribers experienced cable outages, internet outages, and even phone outages. The outages lasted for hours. People were frustrated they were missing Week 16 NFL action, unable to stream Netflix, etc. And understandably given the ever-increasing cost of cable and internet. This type of outage is nothing new, unfortunately. They seem to occur with such frequency that folks acknowledge it’s part of the package when they sign up with a provider like TWC.

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Cable and Satellite TV Costs Going to Hike in 2016

By FinancialProspect.com
December 26, 2015

The price of pay-tv is proceeding greater for all customers, with a number of Satellite Television businesses and the country’s greatest wire recently saying price increases that’ll take effect.

DirecTV and Tis & AT Uverse, that are today part of the exact same organization, introduced a week ago that their prices may increase Jan. 28, beginning. The increases will be different for clients, but funnel plans various foundation deals and advanced stations might find increases which range from $2 to $8 monthly. New year price increases for DirecTV have grown to be an almost yearly event, using the organization January, increasing costs by around 6 percent.

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Monthly TV-service bills going up — again

By Gerry Smith BLOOMBERG NEWS
Friday December 25, 2015 5:13 AM

Your television-viewing bill is going up. Again.

While facing a growing number of consumers who drop pay-TV for cheaper online alternatives, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Dish Network and AT&T all are planning to increase their prices early next year — at the risk of turning off more subscribers fed up with the rising cost of television.

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