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End Of The Television Age
By James Grahame
While looking around my neighborhood this morning, I realized there were no TV antennas poking out from the rooftops. They were replaced by cable TV or little round satellite receivers in the blink of an eye.
I suppose this is another sign that the Television Age is well and truly dead. Thirty years ago we were limited to a small handful of off-the-air programs. If a good movie or show was on, half of the neighborhood was watching. Now viewers are faced with the daunting task of choosing from hundreds of boutique channels. And -- worst of all -- we have to pay a significant monthly fee for the privilege of watching commercial-splattered shows.
All is not lost. You can still pick up an excellent analog TV antenna such as this futuristic $99 Radio Shack model (right). It can be installed in your attic so your neighbors don't make fun of your old-fashioned ways. And -- best of all -- there's no $30 per month access fee.
Perhaps even more exciting: the introduction of digital broadcast TV means that people in metropolitan areas will be able to receive great looking (and sounding) digital TV with sleek little indoor HDTV antennas, like this $50 Terk unit.
It's cool to think that digital TV will encourage the rediscovery of almost-forgotten antennas.
