How People are Getting Television

Streaming
This is the most popular, but the numbers are decreasing. The decrease is mainly due to cost. Streaming also uses a lot of bandwidth,  Over the air TV is free and doesn't use any internet bandwidth. 

Over-the-Air Broadcast
Viewers have been steadily increasing, doubling in the last 10 years. The number of channels has also greatly increased. Depending on market size, 30 to well over 100 channels are available. Channels include; 

• Legacy networks 
• Local channels
• Local weather
  
• Public TV (PBS)
• Entertainment
• Crime
• Comedy
• Sports
• News
• Shopping
• Religious
• Spanish

It's becoming increasing popular to combine over the air TV and streaming. Televisions can be set up for the viewer to easily select over air or streaming inputs. Some TVs and devices combine over air and streaming channels without changing inputs.

St Louis Cardinals will air 10 Games on Free Over Air TV

The St Louis Cardinals will broadcast 10 games on over the air free TV.
Seven (7) games are at home, 3 are away. All the games are on a Friday. The games will be aired in 14 market cities on MATRIX TV channels. 

CARDINALS GAMES ON OVER-THE-AIR TV
Channel 32-1 -- MATRIX (KMOV) St Louis

• Apr 24 (7 pm) - Seattle Mariners
• May 22 (5:30p)-- at Cincinnati Reds
• May 29 (6 pm) - Chicago Cubs.
  
• Jun 12 (7 pm) -- at Minnesota Twins
• Jun 26 (7 pm) - Miami Marlins
• Jul 03 (7 pm) -- at Chicago Clubs
• Jul 24 (7 pm) - Cincinnati Reds
• Aug 07 (7 pm) - Colorado Rockies
• Aug 28 (7 pm) - Pittsburgh Pirates
  
• Sep 11 (7 pm) - Chicago White Sox

The Games will be Aired in 14 Market City's.

• St Louis, MO (Channel 32-1)
• Springfield, MO
• Champaign, IL
• Peoria, IL
• Quincy, IL
• Rockford, IL
• Evansville, IN
• Jonesboro, AR
• Memphis, TN
• Paducah, KY
• Cedar Rapids, IA
• Davenport, IA
• Ottumwa, IA
• Sioux City, IA

Find TV channels and broadcast towers near you at https://otadtv.com/tvtower/ .

Kansas City Royals Games on Over-the-Air Free TV in Nebraska

Several areas in Nebraska will get select Kansas City Royals games on free over the air TV. Areas include Lincoln, North Platte, Grand Island and Hastings. Ten (10) games will be aired between the Home Opener (March 30th) and September 07th. The TV channels for the first 3 games have been set, the other 7 games channels will be announced later.

KC ROYALS GAMES AIRED IN NEBRASKA

March 30 (Monday) - Minnesota Twins (KC Home Opener)

• Lincoln       Channel 4-1 NBC (KSNB-TV)
• North Plate   Channel 2-1 NBC (KNOP)

April 03 (Friday) - Milwaukee Brewers

• Lincoln       Channel 10-1 CBS (KOLN)
• North Plate   Channel 10-1 CBS (KNPL)
• Grand Island  Channel 11-1 CBS (KGIN) 

April 24 (Friday) - LA Angels

• Lincoln       Channel 18-1 CBS (KCWH-LD)
• North Plate   Channel 11-2 CW (KIIT-CD)

TV Channels and Markets to be Announced

• Apr 24(Friday) - LA Angels
• May 22(Friday) - Seattle Mariners
  
• Jun 12(Friday) - Houston Astros
  
• Jun 19(Friday) - St Louis Cardinals
  
• Jul 17(Friday) - San Diego Padres
  
• Aug 07(Friday) - Chicago Clubs
  
• Aug 21(Friday) - Detroit Tigers
  
• Sep 07(Monday) - Arizona Diamondbacks

 

 

 

Purposed FCC Mandate Will Force Consumers to Buy a NextGen TV

The Federal Communication System (FCC) is considering forcing TV manufacturers to only produce NextGen 4k (ATSC 3.0) televisions.  NextGen televisions cost about 20% more than High Definition HD televisions.  The top 500 market areas have very few or no NextGen broadcast.  The mandate also contradicts the administration’s de-regulatory priorities.

NAB in Favor of Forced Implementation
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is pushing for the mandate.  The NAB’s ultimate goal is to sunset HD (ATSC 1.0) broadcast and force all TV broadcast and televisions to be NextGen (ATSC 3.0).  The NAB has been promoting NextGen TV for years, with little success. Now they're trying to force manufacturers and consumers to buy into it. It appears NextGen TV is a jobs program for software companies, and will be costly for consumers and smaller broadcasters.

The CTA is Against Forced Implementation
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) position is the mandate will “hurt American consumers by forcing them to buy something they don’t want”.  Even households that don’t use broadcast TV will pay more for a television.  Low Power TV (30 miles range) broadcasters are also against the mandate.

The CTA also opposes allowing High Definition HD (ATSC 1.0) broadcast to encode MPEG-4 streaming. Older HD televisions would lose the TV channels.

Does the FCC Have This Authority?

The FCC’s authority to force NextGen television is in question. In the past Congress adopted the switch from analog to digital TV in 2009.  The CTA’s position is the FCC mandate is “ultimately a major question for Congress to decide”. 

Consumers
There is no public interest.  Less than 2% of TV broadcast channels are NextGen.  The number of new NextGen broadcast virtually stopped in 2025, nobody is watching.

Lack of consumer interest is due to cost, lackluster improvement, the content protection (DRM) feature, and endless software updates that are often buggy.  The obviously solution is continuing the voluntary transition to ATSC 3.0  Let the market decide, not special interest groups.