Broadcast TV

1

1stGenSMIB

Active Member
It seems to me that the information on that site does not add up.

That just looks like the same junk HDTV antennas you buy at Wal-Mart or Best Buy that don't work anywhere in Southern Maryland because we are too far away from the broadcast towers. I cannot imagine that hanging this thing in your window would work.
I have a Hi-VHF and directional Yagi UHF antenna on my roof 75 feet high and I still cannot reliably pick up any D.C. area broadcasts.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
sastanley said:
It seems to me that the information on that site does not add up.

That just looks like the same junk HDTV antennas you buy at Wal-Mart or Best Buy that don't work anywhere in Southern Maryland because we are too far away from the broadcast towers. I cannot imagine that hanging this thing in your window would work.
I have a Hi-VHF and directional Yagi UHF antenna on my roof 75 feet high and I still cannot reliably pick up any D.C. area broadcasts.
Click to expand...

No requirement for cable companies to broadcast anything. Local affiliates of broadcast networks as required to do just that broadcast. So your basic networks are available OTA, or Over The Air. Wether you can pick them up on any antenna is a question that depends on where exactly you are. Me, I'm donw by St Marys City with a 30 foot hill and ton of huge trees between me and anywhere, so I would need a 20 foot mast on top of the house. Antennaweb cna help you figure out if you need an antenna


https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-tv-antennas,review-2354.html

Do some reading here. Note especially this bit.........

Your experience may differ from our test results. In Vermont, for example, we were unable to pick up any channels, even using amplified antennas that claimed reception distances of 60 miles. Given the mountains and other impediments, this was not unexpected. However, in a more level rural area with few obstructions, owners may be able to pull in stations 30 or more miles away. The point is to be realistic about your cord-cutting expectations.
Click to expand...
 
Grumpy

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
sastanley said:
It seems to me that the information on that site does not add up.

That just looks like the same junk HDTV antennas you buy at Wal-Mart or Best Buy that don't work anywhere in Southern Maryland because we are too far away from the broadcast towers. I cannot imagine that hanging this thing in your window would work.
I have a Hi-VHF and directional Yagi UHF antenna on my roof 75 feet high and I still cannot reliably pick up any D.C. area broadcasts.
Click to expand...

Junk
 
Ken King

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
glhs837 said:
No requirement for cable companies to broadcast anything. Local affiliates of broadcast networks as required to do just that broadcast. So your basic networks are available OTA, or Over The Air. Wether you can pick them up on any antenna is a question that depends on where exactly you are. Me, I'm donw by St Marys City with a 30 foot hill and ton of huge trees between me and anywhere, so I would need a 20 foot mast on top of the house. Antennaweb cna help you figure out if you need an antenna


https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-tv-antennas,review-2354.html

Do some reading here. Note especially this bit.........
Click to expand...
There are requirements (FCC) that cable providers "must carry" local OTA channels that have been upheld by the courts.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
Ken King said:
There are requirements (FCC) that cable providers "must carry" local OTA channels that have been upheld by the courts.
Click to expand...

Right, but that's carry, not broadcast, and given this was about antenna reception, not basic cable, I didnt think that needed covered :)
 
Ken King

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
glhs837 said:
Right, but that's carry, not broadcast, and given this was about antenna reception, not basic cable, I didnt think that needed covered :)
Click to expand...

Given that the OP stated "Is there a legal requirement that cable companies broadcast their programming?" my answer was spot on, even if it was contrary to your erroneous response. It is a fact that the signal from the cable company is indeed a broadcast and it doesn't matter if it is open air, cable, or fiber optics.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
Ken King said:
Given that the OP stated "Is there a legal requirement that cable companies broadcast their programming?" my answer was spot on, even if it was contrary to your erroneous response. It is a fact that the signal from the cable company is indeed a broadcast and it doesn't matter if it is open air, cable, or fiber optics.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, that word, broadcast, it has meanings, especially regarding television.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_television

Terrestrial television or broadcast television is a type of television broadcasting in which the television signal is transmitted by radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth based) transmitter of a television station to a TV receiver having an antenna. The term is more common in Europe, while in North America it is referred to as broadcast television or sometimes over-the-air television (OTA).
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http://www.yourdictionary.com/broadcast-television

Television programming sent over the air to all receivers.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model
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So, yes, the single word broadcasting does mean sending communictions on the one to many model, when referring to television, it's most commonly used to indicate OTA transmission. Only the OP can tell us what he meant, but since he was inquiring about an antenna, I thinks it's a better than even chance he was wanting to know if Metrocast was required to send their programming OTA in addition to cable.
 
3

3CATSAILOR

Well-Known Member
sastanley said:
it seems to me that the information on that site does not add up.

That just looks like the same junk hdtv antennas you buy at wal-mart or best buy that don't work anywhere in southern maryland because we are too far away from the broadcast towers. I cannot imagine that hanging this thing in your window would work.
I have a hi-vhf and directional yagi uhf antenna on my roof 75 feet high and i still cannot reliably pick up any d.c. Area broadcasts.
Click to expand...

g a r b a g e ! ! !
 
S

softtouch

Member
I asked about cable companies requirement to broadcast over the air because of this paragraph in the article I posted a link to:

But how can you watch for free? The secret to that is a law that no cable company in the world wants you to know about. It states that every cable company has to provide additionally to the normal signal a over-the-air signal. So in order to not break the law the cable companies distrubute this signal but in a low frequency- so almost no antennas were able to pick it up reliably. Until now TVSurf changes that.
 
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glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
softtouch said:
I asked about cable companies requirement to broadcast over the air because of this paragraph in the article I posted a link to:

But how can you watch for free? The secret to that is a law that no cable company in the world wants you to know about. It states that every cable company has to provide additionally to the normal signal a over-the-air signal. So in order to not break the law the cable companies distrubute this signal but in a low frequency- so almost no antennas were able to pick it up reliably. Until now TVSurf changes that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that whole piece is carefully crafted BS. Cable companies are required to carry broadcast networks on the cable for you, meeting the strict definition of "broadcast", meaning they are sending a signal from one pace to many. But they are NOT required to send that signal over the air. That POS antenna might work in a city or nearby, but the signals it picked up would be the OTA broadcast from local network affiliates, not from any cable provider.
 
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