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Are the old-fashioned rabbit ears the television technology of the future?
From: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rabbit-ears25-2009dec25,0,56684…

Rabbit ears make comeback in digital TV era

Southland viewers are finding they can get nearly three times as many
channels as they once could with an antenna. And best of all, they’re
free.

By David Sarno
December 25, 2009

On a recent winter night, while neighbors strung their Baldwin Park
homes with Christmas lights, the Lams and their three children sat in
front of a television set with rabbit ears sprouting out of the top.

Wait a second — rabbit ears? Is this 1950?

No, it’s almost 2010, and the Lams are a modern Los Angeles family
that, like many in the region, are rediscovering the convenience –
and economics — of the old-fashioned TV antenna.

In the wake of the transition to digital television, Southland viewers
are finding they can get nearly three times as many channels as they
once could with an antenna. And rather than the erratic, fuzzy
reception of yesteryear, today’s rabbit ears are capable of delivering
a surprisingly clear high-definition picture.

Best of all, it’s free, said Nancy Lam, the mother of the family.

"I’ve saved a lot of money by getting rid of cable," Lam said. "We
only had to purchase the antenna one time, and now we have it forever,
instead of paying every single month."

In these penny-pinching times, watching TV over the airwaves is
becoming an increasingly attractive option for many households,
particularly among the Los Angeles region’s minority communities.

Although the number of households with antennas in the U.S. fell
slightly in the last year, nearly 20,000 Asian American homes in the
region began using rabbit ears, and 8,000 African Americans switched
to over-the-air TV, according to the media research firm Nielsen Co.

Nearly a quarter of Latino households with televisions, or about
440,000 homes, already tune in with an antenna — the most of any
demographic group in the area.

About 11% of U.S. households — or about 13 million homes — watch
over-the-air broadcasts.

But watching TV over the airwaves has begun to appeal to a broader
audience.

"It’s the best-kept secret around here," said Mike Mahan, who recently
installed a pair of antennas in the attic of his Ladera Ranch home and
dropped his cable subscription. "I just got tired of paying for
hundreds of channels I don’t watch."

With antennas that can cost as little as a dollar, most Los Angeles
viewers can now pick up close to 70 channels, up from around 26 before
the federally mandated digital switch-over last summer. Nearly a dozen
of the digital channels are broadcast in high definition.

Having upgraded to the more sophisticated digital technology, stations
are able to slice their broadcast spectrum into a number of
subchannels, such as KNBC-TV Channel 4’s 4.1, 4.2 and 4.4.

Many of the new channels are aimed at the region’s ethnic communities,
giving rise to a growing selection of news, entertainment and
educational programming for Latino, Asian and Eastern European
viewers.

In Los Angeles, more than 30 over-the-air channels are available in
English, including stations featuring movies, dramas and children’s
programs. Major networks including ABC, CBS and NBC beam out daytime
and prime-time shows — and professional sports — in resolution with
clarity that may shock viewers expecting the hazy broadcast signals
they remember from childhood.

"Everyone who does it says the picture quality is actually better than
what you’re getting through cable," said Patricia McDonough, a senior
vice president at Nielsen.

As more viewers tune in to the newly reenergized possibilities of
broadcast television, manufacturers say they can’t make antennas fast
enough.

"Our sales are going through the roof," said Richard Schneider,
president of Antennas Direct, a St. Louis manufacturer of the devices.

Schneider said that sales had nearly tripled since the switch-over,
and that he had to add a new assembly line in his factory to meet the
demand. The company produces nearly 100,000 antennas every month,
thousands of which are sold in the Los Angeles area, he said.

Viewers are also finding they can combine broadcast television with
the growing array of movie and TV programming available online.

Mahan of Ladera Ranch dropped his subscription to Cox Cable last year
in favor of a pair of high-end antennas and an Internet connection
that lets him watch movies through Netflix and TV shows through video
websites such as Hulu .com. He even rigged up a device that can record
shows directly off the antenna.

But cable companies contend that over-the-air broadcasts are less
reliable and that the signal can be easily interrupted or weakened,
depending on where a home is. Homes near hills, for instance, may have
trouble receiving all the channels available in a given

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