Titan Broadcast Group’s Fox affiliate in Fresno, CA (KMPH) was inundated by viewers who lined up beginning at 3AM 10/12 to pick up a free DTV antenna. A total of 300 were given away and traffic was backed up outside the KMPH studios, half a city block. A station news anchor made the point that many people don’t realize that you can still receive television stations free without cable or satellite.
The segment also played an ad from the NAB, “There’s a movement among special interest groups to limit free antenna TV. It has to do with high speed wireless Internet access competing with TV’s digital broadcasting.”
RBR-TVBR observation: The one thing the station may end up regretting is reminding folks that if they don’t have a DTV converter handy or their TV set doesn’t have a built-in DTV tuner, the antenna will not help a bit. There may be a bit of explaining to do on 10/13. But free TV still isn’t what it used to be. You might note in the KMPH video that the antenna boxes being handed out were for an outdoor hookup. For many homes, a DTV antenna set atop or near the TV set will not pull in nearly the number of analog signals available — pre-DTV transition.
