[opendtv] Re: Pew Research, Luxuries and MVPD Subscriptions

In a similar vein (ignore the part about OTA being uncompressed!):

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=475052

Antenna Makers Put Free TV On Radar Of A Pay-TV Society 
By PATRICK SEITZ, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILYPosted 04/24/2009 05:39 PM ET

The lowly TV antenna is making a comeback, and bringing free TV along with it.

Sales of over-the-air TV antennas jumped last year thanks to the digital TV 
transition, as users upgrade their gear for better reception.

At the same time, some consumers looking to save money in today's economy are 
dumping cable and satellite pay TV services in favor of free broadcast 
television.

Makers of antennas, as well as local broadcasters, hope to drive more viewers 
to free television by touting its merits.

Besides being free, broadcast television offers the best high-definition 
picture quality, because it's uncompressed. Cable and satellite operators 
compress their HD channels in order to squeeze in more channels on their 
bandwidth, which degrades their quality.

Plus, most local broadcasters are now multicasting, with each providing up to 
six extra subchannels for viewers to enjoy.

Even if they can't persuade pay TV customers to switch to broadcast-only, 
antenna makers and broadcasters hope to get them to at least use antennas on 
secondary televisions in the home. Once households experience free TV, they 
might be willing to make the switch at some point, people in the industry say.

"We're seeing a huge uptick" in TV antenna sales, said Lou Lenzi, senior vice 
president of product management for Audiovox 's (VOXX) antenna manufacturing 
unit. "Some of our customers are reporting anywhere from a 50% to 100% increase 
in sales over the past 12 months."

Audiovox of Hauppauge, N.Y., makes RCA and Terk-brand antennas. Audiovox's 
accessories business, which includes antennas, accounted for 26% of its 2008 
sales.

June 12 Deadline

Most of the sales increase is because of the digital TV transition, Lenzi says. 
U.S. TV stations are set to cease analog broadcasts on June 12 and go digital 
only.

Households that use over-the-air antennas must buy converter boxes to continue 
receiving programming if they have analog or early model digital TV sets. 
Cable, satellite and telecom TV services are not affected because they provide 
their own set-top boxes to subscribers.

Last year, most customers buying over-the-air antennas were videophiles who 
wanted the best possible HD video for their high-end home theater systems, says 
Richard Schneider, president and founder of Antennas Direct, a St. Louis-based 
maker and distributor of antennas. Lately, more customers are buying antennas 
for economic reasons, he says.

"A lot of people are rethinking spending $50 to $100 a month on pay TV," said 
Grant Whipple, national sales manager for antenna manufacturer Winegard, of 
Burlington, Iowa. "People are talking about not going out to eat or cutting out 
this or that, but I can save a lot of people well over $1,000 a year by putting 
up an antenna."

Other related posts: