Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV - the Antenna!

[dixonge]

Dan Sisco has discovered a technology that allows him to access half a dozen major TV channels, completely free.


“I was just kind of surprised that this is technology that exists,” says Mr. Sisco, 28 years old. “It’s been awesome. It doesn’t log out and it doesn’t skip.”

Richard Schneider, founder of a St. Louis manufacturing company called Antennas Direct, says his occupation results in awkward small talk. “If I’m at a party and I tell people what I do for a living, they’ll say, ‘That’s still a thing?’ I’d think you’d be out of business by now.’”


Quite the opposite. He started selling antennas as a hobby more than 15 years ago and only expected to sell a few hundred each year. He says he sold 75,000 antennas in June. Even the latest high-definition flat-screen TVs need an antenna to get free broadcasts.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/millen...o-get-free-tv-the-antenna-1501686958?mod=e2tw

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I had an old boss, he used to say "if you want a new idea, read an old book"

 

[gerntz]

Is this a joke?

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Is this a joke?

I dont think so, some of the spoiled generation are clueless, unless it comes from a smart phone.
My Father thought I was spoiled that I had my own shoes. He didnt get his own till he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in February 1944.
I had a rookie that never used a rotary dial phone. He asked me how to use it.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Is this a joke?

no, I also heard millenerials are killing craft beer

but I forgot where I read it

good thing I have a bunch of antennae

 

[Chuckanut]

Amazing Hack discovered by Millenials

Amazing! You can't make this stuff up.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/millen...ng-hack-to-get-free-tv-the-antenna-1501686958
Probably behind a pay wall so here are some interesting quotes.

Carlos Villalobos, 21, who was selling tube-shaped digital antennas at a swap meet in San Diego recently, says customers often ask if his $20 to $25 products are legal. “They don’t trust me when I say that these are actually free local channels,” he says.

he mostly watches Netflix. “I had no idea,” he said of broadcast’s continued existence. “I’m still not even that familiar with the concept.”

he offered to buy an antenna for one of his daughters, then in her early 20s, so she and her roommates could get live TV, she had no idea what he was talking about. “She thought it was some modern satellite service or something,” the former FCC official says.

about two years ago, her mother told her about modern antennas. Now, Ms. Herrick is the one who regularly has to explain to puzzled guests how she’s able to watch free television. “Everyone I talked to, they had no idea.”

 

[MichaelB]

Threads merged

 

[easysurfer]

Someone's gonna make a fortune selling wire coat hangers for those DIY antennas.

 

[Bamaman]

Millennials just don't get that there are radio waves floating around in the air--free for the taking.

My problem is the DW is hooked on OWN and Hallmark channels which are not broadcast--just by cable/internet.

 

[Chuckanut]

i even heard that somebody is transcribing the daily WSJ and printing it on big sheets of paper thus defeating the pay wall!!!!

Who knows, maybe somebody will find a way to copy movies and TV shows to some physical medium that can be passed around from person to person at no additional cost. Heck the libraries could even lend them out to millions of people like they do books.

Will wonders never cease?

 

[MichaelB]

I think one factor here is that 1/3 of millennials still live with their parents. They have disposable income. Let them get married, move out, have kids, buy a house, and it won't take long before they start learning about all the ways they can save money.

That's they way it's worked with my children. Once they had children and a mortgage, they suddenly started discovering things like the library and OTA TV.

 

[GrayHare]

"Libraries? Where one can 'rent' books and movies for free? Bahaha, never happen."

 

[Koogie]

Probably unfair but when I see things like this about Millenials it reminds me of a lyric from a song (band below in signature):

"A generation so much dumber than it's parents came crashing through the window"

Digitally clever but stupid with anything requiring analog or practical skills or knowledge.

I have an older friend who snidely compares them to the clueless, fat people on hover chairs in the movie Wall-E.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Millennials just don't get that there are radio waves floating around in the air--free for the taking.

My problem is the DW is hooked on OWN and Hallmark channels which are not broadcast--just by cable/internet.

Nice channels, I get a bit of a respite from those channels sometimes.

 

[marko]

Someone's gonna make a fortune selling wire coat hangers for those DIY antennas.

And they work better with a little aluminum foil wrapped around the top!

 

[REWahoo]

And they work better with a little aluminum foil wrapped around the top!

Are you talking millennials or antennas?

 

[CaptTom]

That's they way it's worked with my children. Once they had children and a mortgage, they suddenly started discovering things like the library and OTA TV.

Yes! Two DD's who would never be caught dead in anything but designer clothes while WE were paying for them, have since had families of their own and now shamelessly shop at thrift stores and scan Craigs List for bargains of all kinds.

Not sure if I should be proud or ashamed of that

 

[Maenad]

DH found a "new kitchen hack" for peeling peaches that involves blanching them and shocking them. There were people raving about this that were literally in diapers when I was using this technique with my mom.

If I'd been foolish enough to share something "new" like that with my grandmothers, I don't know if they would have laughed themselves silly or backhanded me into next week!

There's nothing wrong with rediscovering things that previous generations had or did, I think it's a shame to sacrifice all that knowledge on the shrine of progress. However, we shouldn't take credit like we invented something new or take pride in our ignorance.

 

[kombat]

Dan Sisco has discovered a technology that allows him to access half a dozen major TV channels, completely free.

6 channels?

WITH commercials?

Not interested. I'll stick with my hundreds of channels where I can fast-forward through the commercials (cable with a PVR), my thousands of commerical-free, on-demand movies and TV shows (Netflix), and various streaming options.

 

[JoeWras]

I almost blew up our house when I was the "dumb Gen-Xer."

Mom and dad put the old stove in the basement as an extra for holiday baking. Mom asked me to help out one Christmas. "Joe, can you put this roast in the basement oven?" "Sure mom!" I go downstairs, stick it in, and turn up the oven to 325.

A long while later, my mom comes back with singed hair and says, why didn't you light the oven? I'm like, "What you do mean?"

No pilot light on that 50's era beauty. Manual lighting. I didn't know such a thing existed!

Postscript: mom thought the gas was cleared and tried to light the oven and there was still some gas, which is how she got singed. Fortunately, no major injuries or explosions. Just a quick flash.

 

[dixonge]

Threads merged

I was first! I was first!

lol

 

[dixonge]

6 channels?

WITH commercials?

Not interested. I'll stick with my hundreds of channels where I can fast-forward through the commercials (cable with a PVR), my thousands of commerical-free, on-demand movies and TV shows (Netflix), and various streaming options.

hook it up to something that allows you to record - then you can DVR/pause/skip

 

[kombat]

hook it up to something that allows you to record - then you can DVR/pause/skip

I thought about that after I posted, but you'd still need a data feed with the schedule information in it. Otherwise, you'd have to manually program the DVR to record programs based on a specific time/date/channel (like a VCR), rather than just going into the online guide and saying "Record all new episodes of this show, any day, any channel" and forgetting about it.

 

[MissMolly]

I thought about that after I posted, but you'd still need a data feed with the schedule information in it. Otherwise, you'd have to manually program the DVR to record programs based on a specific time/date/channel (like a VCR), rather than just going into the online guide and saying "Record all new episodes of this show, any day, any channel" and forgetting about it.

You can get a Tablo and it allows for series recordings exactly as you describe. Only set them up once. Only works for OTA programs.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I almost blew up our house when I was the "dumb Gen-Xer."

Mom and dad put the old stove in the basement as an extra for holiday baking. Mom asked me to help out one Christmas. "Joe, can you put this roast in the basement oven?" "Sure mom!" I go downstairs, stick it in, and turn up the oven to 325.

A long while later, my mom comes back with singed hair and says, why didn't you light the oven? I'm like, "What you do mean?"

No pilot light on that 50's era beauty. Manual lighting. I didn't know such a thing existed!

Postscript: mom thought the gas was cleared and tried to light the oven and there was still some gas, which is how she got singed. Fortunately, no major injuries or explosions. Just a quick flash.

My mother had a stove in the basement that required a match to light the oven part. It also was only used for holidays. We had a tin box sort of contraction that hung on the wall over the stove. It held the matches and had a ledge that would hold the extinguished match. Lighting the oven was my job, I felt very grown up doing that.