Cable TV is an unaffordable expense for many American households. For others, cable is simply not the place to invest one’s money or time.
Benefitting from the both the cord cutting Gen Y crowd and the budget constrained “working poor” is Antennas Direct, a St. Louis company that expects to double last year’s sales of about 600,000 antennas, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company’s antennas cost from $50 to $150. The typical customer saves $96 a month by “cutting the cord” on cable or satellite TV.
The number of channels one can receive via antenna depends on the area–there are 90 stations in Los Angeles to about 25 in St. Louis. On average viewers get 30 to 45 channels, many in High Def, as long as they don’t live in a canyon or deep valley and are within 65 miles of a transmitting tower.
“It’s not a stretch to think that the broadcast business model will outlive that of cable,” said National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton.
