Rabbit Ears = Free HDTV
From April to September, cable and satellite companies had a net loss of about 330,000 customers. Craig Moffett, a longtime cable analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, said the consensus of the industry executives he had talked to was that most of these so-called cord-cutters were turning to over-the-air TV. "It looks like they're leaving for the antenna," he said.
Neil Smit, president of Comcast
Cable, acknowledged in a recent call with investors that some customers
had dropped cable for free signals. Company executives also said they
expected business to rebound with the economy.
Antennas Direct, a maker of TV antennas in St. Louis, expects to sell 500,000 this year, up from 385,000 in 2009, according to its president, Richard Schneider.
"Over-the-air is the new basic cable," he said, arguing that free TV and
Internet alternatives "are giving people the rationale they've been
looking for to end a bad relationship."
