Jumping on the current TV antenna bandwagon, and seemingly in response to Time Warner Cable’s free-antenna giveaway in the wake of its nearly month-long battle with CBS, RadioShack is
promoting a digital TV antenna effort.
Saying RadioShack makes "cutting the cable" convenient and easy,” RadioShack's latest indoor antennas start at only $49.99. RadioShack is offering a
25% discount on its best-selling, AntennaCraft Amplified Omnidirectional HDTV Antenna in affected areas through September 7.
For its part, Time Warner Cable recently started up an offer for
free antennas to subscribers in five markets affected by the blackout of CBS stations and its cable networks, including New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. It also offers customers a $20 coupon to buy
them at Best Buy.
Helping those viewers who are seeking to cut their cords to multichannel TV/video distributors, RadioShack directs consumers to go to AntennaWeb.org to see what channels
and programming are available in their areas.
For those looking to add to their over-the-air options, RadioShack also suggests getting a streaming media player from Roku 3 or Netgear NeoTV
Max, which cost between $49.99 and $99.99. Looking to access movie services such as Netflix, consumers can add low-cost monthly subscriptions, which can start at $7.99. Those services also offer free
trials.
RadioShack calls itself the “cable-cutting” experts
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I have a number of antennas, but I'm on the leeward side of an apartment building in Manhattan, so reception is zip. Even with an antenna on the roof I'm looking at the side of a much bigger apartment building standing between our place and the Empire State Building, from which our local TV signals radiate. In fact there are another few dozen buildings also in the way beyond the one next door.
See, the problem with digital TV is that you pretty much need line-of-sight to get a good signal. If you've got that, you don't even need much of an antenna. A short length of wire will do.
Old-fashioned analog TV degraded much more gracefully. You could at least look at a snowy picture and twiddle with the rabbit ears. Not with digital, alas. So expect to see a lot of disappointed people in signal shadows.