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What happens when cable companies feud with content providers? (1 Viewer)

Kevin Collins

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Well, people get fed up and figure out different ways to get the content. Ways that they can't be shut out from.

The month-long feud between CBS and Time Warner Cable that's left viewers in eight major markets without CBS and its sister networks Showtime and TMC has sparked a huge run on digital antennas that is leading to shortages.

One of our friends, Richard Schneider, president of St. Louis-based Antennas Direct, said that sales have nearly doubled over 2012, with August sales already at 62,000. He also added that the TV war has prompted cable users in the impacted markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, to drop cable after seeing how many free channels they can get through digital antennas, which he said provide a clearer high definition picture than cable and satellite.

I have an Antennas Direct antenna on my house and love it. I do get better picture than over my cable connection and over my DISH satellite. I also get channels that are not available on either cable or DISH. Why do I have all three? Well, because each has channels that I can't get on the others... :). My wife's parents live in LA and they converted entirely off of cable when they saw how many channels they could get for FREE with OTA. It didn't take me long to hook up their antenna in their house either.

How many people use OTA for their HDTV source?
 

schan1269

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I've always used OTA.

My current antenna is a Winegard 8200. I pull Indianapolis stations from 110 miles away.

Perfect so I can ignore the Bulls and Bears.
 

Walter Kittel

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I use OTA and digital cable. Having both, I can record up to four programs at the same time which helps alleviate scheduling conflicts (particularly in the Fall with pro and college football and new network TV programming.) It doesn't give me more time to watch the content however. :)

I was talking to a friend of mine near Dallas (one of the affected markets.) He indicated that he had dug out his old HD antenna and tested his OTA reception. Apparently it sucks in his location, so he is out of luck for CBS programming. I don't recall if he is a big Homeland fan or not, since season 3 is coming up soon on Showtime.

- Walter.
 

Type A

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Cable exclusively at home but work is exclusively OTA. The digital switch-over continues to suck to high heaven and despite our best efforts OTA programming is a spotty 5 channels, at best. Guess thats the drawback of working on an island like Tyndall and working for a company that is just too damn cheap to provide basic cable. Before you ask, we're fuels technicians and our jobs are kinda like firefighters.

Luckily and ironically I have 4G tethering with decent reception. Since Im grandfathered unlimited data Ive got Slingbox and Netflix to my hearts content but I do feel sorry for the guys who endure the spotty and garbage broadcast TV programming. In some ways I miss the occasional crappy pq of analog broadcast, to me the digital drop-outs are far more annoying than a fuzzy picture ever was.
 

schan1269

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^^^

Yeah I had a grandfathered unlimited Sprint plan till one day an "update" arrived that my card was "too old to accept"...

I sent a big FU to Sprint and hopped on Tmobile. Less actual cost and I get a "higher before throttled" plan than Sprint has.

Forgot to add in my case...

Directv as well. Been on Directv since even before HD. Have lived in various places where cable wasn't an option anyway(ie...the boonies).
 

Dan Driscoll

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I had and HD-OTA receiver and tried to use it here a couple of times. Sadly, I'm in a radio shadow and can only get a few stations and even those can be iffy. :(
 

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