Building a better rabbit: NAB reports on better indoor TV antennae

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Technology has come a long, long way from the days when most of us got our television programming directly off the air, and manipulating a standard rabbit ear indoor antenna was an art form. With provision of guaranteed on-air availability of broadcast TV programming becoming a critical element when testy retransmission consent negotiations are in progress, NAB is spreading the word about improvements in the technology applicable to the digital age.


According to NAB, “The report examines the technical progress made in advanced antenna design methods and evaluates the feasibility of applying such designs to digital TV reception. Specifically, the report identifies and evaluates ten candidate design methods and technologies that have the potential to improve the performance of indoor DTV antennas.”

The NAB-commissioned 131-page report was put together by Megawave Corporation, and is available here:

http://www.nabfastroad.org/NABHighperformanceIndoorTVantennaRpt.pdf

The project is a part of NAB’s ongoing advocacy of broadcast technology improvement, known as NAB FASTROAD.

RBR-TVBR observation: MVPDs love to jump up and down and charge broadcasters with using some key broadcast television event in order to hold viewers hostage. If viewers can easily pull the programming off air during one of the rare disruptions in broadcast service, it takes a major arrow out of the MVPD quiver.