I pose this because in the very rural lower income area's ota plays a huge role in peoples lives. My area is one of them. Our service is run by people I do not know but the service can be down for several weeks at a time. It is going on a month now. I mean that several of the stations are totally off line.
As I recall the fcc mandates reliable service for ota broadcasting. I am wondering if $ is being given and stolen and little to no attention to providing reliable service is happening. Besides providing entertainment ota also provides safety for the public. This is an ongoing problem here and needs to have someone investigate what is happening. Any suggestions.

OTA (over the air) is broadcast TV. Unless the stations are running translators to extend the reach, you're needing to have a sufficient signal and antenna.

If you would, email me offline with your approximate location - I'll look up some of broadcast sites and see what I can find.

Now, if you're running one of the units that can capture OTA and streaming services (like Tablo), your internet signal becomes important for the streaming stations.

I do know our system does pull signals from longer distances (translaters?) do not know the the terminology. Could be 60-180 miles.

Got your email and replied with some data. If you have a fast internet connection, you might have to go with an online provider that can stream to you.

Thanks Sigsac, my question pertains to our community members who rely on ota broadcasting for their ability to be entertained and informed who are on fixed, low incomes.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
OTA tv service... Who funds it.

748 million health insurance, prescription drug and accident lawyer commercials, that's who funds it. And that's just during one single episode of Matlock.

Are the problems that your rural people are having occuring just since going all digital signaling ?

In "09" ?

In the last six years the o.t.a. signal quality has been getting disrupted by all kinds of outside influences.


It may be up to the people to get higher antenna perches or larger antennas.

It's amazing what screws up a signal.

OTA is also switching to ATSC 3.0 or “Next Gem TV”. The rollout is not standardized as the last generation was and broadcasters were asked to voluntarily roll it out so it’s probably a shit show from place to place. Could your area have maybe upgraded to the new standard and because you don’t have 3.0 tuner in either the tv or box form to receive the new signal? And even if they haven’t that will be needed when it eventually does roll out. Antenna Man has a great YouTube channel covering mostly equipment suggestions for those cutting the cord, but he also does many videos covering the changing standards and requirements. I follow his knowledge to try to keep up with the things going on OTA.

OTA is in charge by the owners of their businesses.

OTA is funded by the income these business generate most generally from ad sales.

OTA owners are responsible for their service.


Note: that OTA has a physical component that is dependant on distance from the broadcast that may affect performance.

Interesting article > https://cordcuttersnews.com/th...wners-get-their-way/

What kind of internet service do you have?

If you have a minimum of 7 mbps internet you can sign up for YouTube TV and not ever have to mess around with OTA antennas and outages again.

I have it and it's got every local TV channel except maybe one.

Streaming/internet TV is the future. Antennas are not.

He is asking about o.t.a. broadcasting for those in his vicinity w/o innernet

Thanks guys. I appreciate the responses. I was under the impression that the fcc had some role in insuring that people had reliable access to digital ota tv service. Sounds like maybe that is not the case.
Around these parts there are many low income and low tech individuals who count on ota service. Being without it for weeks at a time removes people for having a source of entertainment and leaves them more isolated than they already are.