In report from the Consumer electronics Association, it said that only 8% of all US households watch their Television solely over-the-air using an antenna. And that it is declining.<\/p>\n
CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro as saying, \u201cContrary to the National Association of Broadcasters\u2019 assertions, antenna sales are falling and cord-cutters are not shifting to over-the-air television but rather to the Internet. The only cord being cut these days is the one to the antenna.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Boy, we sure are selling a lot of antennas to a diminishing customer base if that is true. Antennas Direct is up 169 percent in three-year revenue growth.<\/p>\n NAB\u2019s spokesman Dennis Wharton was quick to respond. \u201cCEA has zero credibility when it comes to calculating over-the-air TV viewership. Knowledge Networks has stated that over-the-air exclusive homes are more than 14% and rising. We trust an unbiased research firm over a survey paid for by CEA,\u201d <\/em>he replied.<\/p>\n As it turns out, CEA has an obvious bias here. In a press release that came out earlier today, CEA announced that its Innovation Movement and Small Business Council would bring a \u2018small business message\u2019 to Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n So where\u2019s the bias? In the fifth paragraph of the press release, CEA states:<\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOnline, CEA\u2019s Innovation Movement will be hosting a Virtual Lobby Day for its 114,000-plus members to encourage them to act on one key issue affecting small businesses: incentive spectrum auctions. CEA Innovation Movement members will be called to ask their congressional representatives to authorize the FCC to move forward with \u201cincentive auctions,\u201d which would provide broadcasters the ability to repurpose their frequencies through a spectrum auction in exchange for proceeds from auction revenues. Broadcasters could participate on a voluntary basis and purchasers could redeploy the spectrum for wireless broadband that could generate $33 billion for the U.S. Treasury and would allow endless opportunities for innovation in small business. \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Apparently the primary motivation of this Innovation Movement is to pressure congress into selling off more broadcast TV spectrum. How, exactly, does that benefit a so-called \u2018small business\u2019 like mine? Seems to me such auctions would be far more useful Verizon and AT&T more than anyone else, and they\u2019re as far removed from \u2018small businesses\u2019 as you can get. <\/em><\/p>\n According to CEA\u2019s Shapiro, \u201cUsing huge swaths of wireless spectrum to deliver TV to homes no longer makes economic sense. Congress should pass legislation to allow for incentive auctions so free market dynamics can find the best purposes for underused broadcast spectrum, such as wireless broadband.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n What is he really saying? <\/em><\/p>\n 1- CEA\u2019s members want more spectrum for broadband and other WiFi gadgets.<\/p>\n 2- They think terrestrial broadcasters are vulnerable now. <\/em><\/p>\n 3- CEA commissions a study that shows only while a small number of people are dropping or planning to drop pay TV service, these cord-cutters are NOT moving to over-the-air reception. No, they are instead turning to Internet-delivered video services <\/em><\/p>\n 4- Therefore, the country needs more bandwidth for broadband delivery of (among other things) video content, and less bandwidth for broadcast TV programs.<\/em><\/p>\n The CEA\u2019s bias is clear now. In the last decade, they fought the digital TV tuner mandate, calling it an undue burden on TV manufacturers. Once the DTV transition got rolling, however, CEA did a flip-flop and showered praise on the FCC\u2019s decision to move to a digital TV future, bringing free HDTV to millions of American homes.<\/p>\n The question is; how many Americans still care that they can watch free HDTV anymore?<\/p>\n I\u2019ll bet it\u2019s a lot more than 8% of all U.S. households\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In report from the Consumer electronics Association, it said that only 8% of all US households watch their Television solely over-the-air using an antenna. And that it is declining. CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro as saying, \u201cContrary to the National Association of Broadcasters\u2019 assertions, antenna sales are falling and cord-cutters are not shifting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antenna-update","category-industry-update"],"yoast_head":"\n