New Study Sees Rise in Over-the-Air TV Homes

NEW YORK: The number of American relying solely on over-the-air TV signals has risen to almost 46 million from 42 million a year ago, reports Knowledge Networks, accounting for 15 percent of TV homes.

The data differs considerably from a survey released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) last week which reported that just 8 percent of U.S. homes rely on over-the-air signals for TV programming. According to the CEA, over-the-air TV viewing has been steadily declining since 2005. The CEA has been advocating for underutilized TV spectrum to be used to accelerate wireless broadband deployments in the U.S.

According to Knowledge Networks, for the past three years 14 percent of homes were reported as broadcast-television only, as compared with 15 percent today. The firm estimates that more than 17 million households receive television exclusively through broadcast signals. These homes tend to be with younger adults, minorities and lower-income families. The data also indicates that 4 percent of TV homes—5 million—cut the cable cord at some point in the past and are now relying solely on over-the-air. The primary reasons cited were cost-cutting (71 percent) followed by not enough value for money (30 percent).

"As we’ve seen for the past few years, over-the-air households continue to make up a sizeable portion of the television viewing landscape," said David Tice, VP and groups account director of Knowledge Networks’ Media practice. "Our research reveals that over-the-air broadcasting remains an important distribution platform of TV programming, and that the estimated number of broadcast TV households in the U.S. has grown."