Vinyl records aren’t the only thing making a comeback among young people. Good old-fashioned TV antenna use is on the rise and is at its highest rate of use since 2005.
While only 20% of those over 65 reports using an antenna, a whopping 45% of those between 25 and 34, say that at least one TV in their home is hooked up to an antenna.
Cable and satellite sub rates are dropping thanks to cord-cutting. Many people are switching to streaming services to get what they want to watch on demand. But they’d still like to catch sporting events, local news, and other items offered by local stations.
Already saddled with a hefty Internet and mobile phone bill, many users don’t want to add paying for TV channels on top of that, so they take the free over-the-air signal.
These days, most channels offer not only their main channel but one or two additional services on their subchannels. If you can receive the signal from four stations where you live, you could have as many as 12 channels to watch at no additional fee.
The trick is that you need to be able to get a signal. Getting a signal these days is not as simple as it was before the digital transition.
Tomorrow I’ll look at how you can figure out if TV signals are available in your area via an antenna.