To quote actress Noomi Repace in director Ridley Scott's highly under-rated 2012 Alien prequel Prometheus: "We were wrong. We were so wrong." 

In March, The Verge stumbled onto an E.W. Scripps Company 10-Q SEC filing, indicating that the broadcaster had, 13 months earlier, for $13.8 million oh-so-quietly acquired Ottawa-based tech company Nuvyyo, maker of the niche-popular Tablo over-the-air DVR.

Like The Verge, we assumed the play had something to do with Scripps' desire to unstick the stalled drive to proliferate ATSC 3.0.  

Incorrect. 

On Monday, Scripps rolled out the latest edition of the Tablo OTA DVR, the first Tablo upgrade introduced with Scripps owning Nuvyyo. Scripps is currently offering its new Tablo DVR via TabloTV.com and BestBuy.com for a promotional price of $99.95. The gadget comes with two tuners, 50 hours of HD storage and access to around 50 FAST channels out of the gate. For just 10 bucks more ($109.95 promo price), you can get an ATSC 1.0 antenna tossed into the package.

The gadget connects wirelessly to your home Wi-Fi router and shows up as an app on popular connected TV platforms like Roku and Amazon Fire TV. So basically, it's a nifty means of getting your live broadcast channels into your app-based spread ... plus some FAST content you may or may not want.

But surprise -- there is no ATSC 3.0 support. At least not yet. 

On Tuesday afternoon, Next TV caught up over Zoom with Grant Hall, still calling the shots for the intact Nuvyyo as founder and CEO out of the Ottawa home office. The affable Hall and his able PR handlers were pretty stoked to have a warm late-August day outside. The Eastern Ontario city doesn't have many of those left this year, so we kept our questioning brief. 

Daniel Frankel: No ATSC 3.0? What the hell are you people up in the Great White North drinking?

Grant Hall: ATSC 1.0 is still the major broadcasting standard. I's going to be around for another five to seven years. It's not going anywhere. So, there's no question we had to support ATSC 1. The question was, could we do ATSC 3.0 right out of the box? And, you know, we started this development a little while ago, back then ATSC 3.0 was evolving, as well, in the earlier stages. And it wasn't quite ready to, you know, for us to bet the farm and to include it into the very first product. We do have ATSC 3.0 on the roadmap, and we're actively working on products with that technology. But for that reason, and for the reason that we wanted to hit a very attractive price point, with the initial product, because we wanted mass adoption ... we wanted to have sub-$100 price for the product. We wanted to have, you know, two tuners to record on board, at least 50 hours for recordings. So all of those challenges kind of led us to ... you know, ATSC 1.0 is the standard, it's the it's the most ubiquitous technology out there. So that's why the first product is ATSC 1.0. It doesn't mean that we're ignoring or not doing ATSC 3.0. It's just not the first product.

Daniel: So what do you think Scripps wants out of this?

Grant: Scripps, obviously, are broadcasters. They have a huge interest in getting eyeballs on their broadcast channels. They've run a program called in a Free TV for a long time, espousing the benefits of antennas and whatnot. So the product that we've been building is really an extension of that -- to provide, you know, a great end user experience for this fantastic over-the-air content. And also to add in some of the other Scripps media and other media to kind of blend in this world of over-the-top TV into this one device, one comprehensive user experience.

Daniel: The device is kind of like Dish Network's AirTV ... except, unlike Dish, Scripps actually seems little less distracted. Maybe you can explain to Next TV's rapt audience of millions how it all works. 

Grant:  It connects to your antenna on one side, and then it connects to your network via Wi-Fi. And then you download the Tablo app on your Roku, your Android TV, your Fire TV, or whatever device you want to use. And that app connects to the Tablo and brings you all of that over-the-air content and local broadcast content. But we've also added the ability to receive over the internet at launch, I think, 50 FAST channels, and that'll be growing. We've designed it so that from an end-user perspective, you just kind of see the channel, you know, whether it's an over-the-air channel are a FAST channel. And you can watch whatever content you want, you can record it, you can play it back, just like you could with a cable DVR. And then we have a fantastic home screen, which we use to sort this content across all of those dimensions. If you're interested in sports, for example, you'll see what sports are playing right now and what's coming up. But the key component is the over-the-air, because people just don't generally realize that there's this fantastic free HDTV that you can get for free with just antenna. The other key with this device is there's no subscription, so there's no recurring fees.

Daniel: And you can stream any broadcast channel?

Grant: Whatever your locals are. I mean, in most U.S. cities, you generally get between 40 to 60 channels over the air. Very good quality. We've been in this business for about a decade. We know the OTA business like the back of our hand. This is really the opportunity for Scripps to add in the over-top-media, the FAST channels, building the experience.

Daniel: Having a broadcaster with a $659 million market capitalization changes the game quite a bit for your little startup, no?

Grant: It makes a massive difference, right? I mean, as a small startup, we were always, you know, under-financed. It's hardware. It's a bit of a tough market in the startup game. So, you know, at certain times, we had trouble building enough product to meet demand. So with a big partner, that's not a problem anymore. We can build enough product to meet whatever demand that the market generates. Plus, they also have a big megaphone to be able to educate the market and to promote the product. And that's going to make a massive difference in terms of awareness, and, you know, just educating the consumer that, hey, there's this free over-the-air, HDTV device. It's free. And it looks fantastic. 

Daniel: So how much bigger will you get with Scripps having your back?

Grant: With this new relationship, we expect almost two orders of magnitude more in terms of what we want to claim over the next couple of years. So it's not just a small linear change, it's an exponential change in terms of what our ambitions are.

Broadcast giant E.W. Scripps quietly paid $14 million in January of 2022 to acquire Canadian startup Nuvyyo, maker of the popular Tablo TV OTA DVR device. 

The revelation comes from The Verge, which stumbled upon the until-now unreported purchase while perusing a Scripps 10-Q regulatory filing. 

“It’s a very important project to us,” said Scripps Networks chief distribution officer Jeffrey Wolf to The Verge.  “It allows viewers to watch over-the-air content essentially on demand." 

Tablo TV is essentially a digital video recorder connected to an over-the-air antenna. It connects on the other end to a user's Wi-Fi network, enabling them to stream broadcast signals, recorded or live, from a wide range of connected TV gadgets, mobile devices and PC browsers. 

Like many broadcasters, Scripps is bullish about OTA and wants to promote the use of traditional broadcast antennas to consumers. 

Further, Scripps would like to enable the usage of ATSC 3.0, a (relatively) new broadcast TV tech standard that's still not so amply supported by smart TVs and other consumer video gadgets. 

As The Verge postulates, a company like Nuvyyo could be useful in making devices that help consumers connect to the so-called NextGen TV standard. 

Nuvyyo, which just introduced the first HDMI-connected version of its popular Tablo-branded OTA DVR last year, has now debuted a quad-tuner iteration, the Tablo Quad HDMI. 

Priced at $200, the new four-tuner device can be configured with third-party external hard drives ranging from 1 terabyte to 8 TB, the latter capable of recording up to 1,000 hours of high-definition video. 

The Ottawa-based Nuvyoo has been, since 2013, made and sold network-based digital video recorders, which connect to an over-the-air antenna. They sit on the user’s WiFi network and are accessed by IP devices using apps. 

Nuvyyo’s newer TV-conneced DVRs offer a slightly more straightforward option for recent cord cutters, connecting directly to the ol' flatscreen via HDMI, just like a traditional pay TV set-top would. 

The device, when paired with Tablo subscription services, still has a cloud computing component, allowing users in other rooms to access it via apps in popular connected TV devices including those powered by Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. 

“The TV-connected Tablo Dual HDMI DVR was so well received by customers that we immediately made plans to launch a Tablo Quad HDMI for TV fans with larger families or channel lineups,” said Grant Hall, CEO of Nuvyyo, in a statement “With this latest addition to our product family, we now offer an Over-the-Air DVR model to fit the needs of every cord cutter.”

Like all Tablo OTA DVRs, the Quad HDMI comes with a basic, traditional grid guide, featuring 24 hours of TV programming data; manual recording capabilities; playback controls including pause, rewind and fast-forward; and support for 5.1 Surround Sound passthrough. 

For $4.99 a month, users can subscribe to the Tablo TV Guide Data, which includes 30 days of programming data and more advanced recording features you’d find on a traditional pay TV-supplied digital video recorder. 

Meanwhile, for another $2 a month, users can subscribe to Tablo’s “Premium Service,” and get automatic commercial skipping capabilities. 

Both subscription services are free for 30 days to purchasers of Tablo DVRs. 

A group of consumer electronics makers, led by system-on-a-chip transcoding company Pixelworks, have teamed up for a branding initiative to help consumers better cut the cord.

The initiative is also being backed by Nuvyyo, the maker of the popular Tablo TV OTA DVR, as well as TV tuner and DVR maker Hauppauge and OTA antenna company Antennas Direct. Shenzhen Geniatech, maker of Android TV set-tops, and OTT app maker Plex GmbH are also involved.

FlexVU says its mission is to “clearly delineate best-in-class cord cutting products and solutions.” The initiative will include a consumer-facing website with educational videos on cord cutting. And participating products will include branding intended to act as a kind of certification to let consumers know “they’re not leaving things like picture resolution on the table,” a spokesperson for the campaign said.

The website includes features like “Channel Finder,” which lets users know how to obtain streaming access to each of their local broadcast stations without a pay TV subscription by punching in their zip code.

An initiative spokesperson said more companies will be announced as the branding initiative continues to evolve.

“Consumers have been cutting the cord from their cable and satellite providers with increasing frequency over the past several years and that phenomenon is likely to accelerate,” said Mark Vena, senior analyst for Moor Insights & Strategy, speaking for the branding initiative in its press release. “Initiatives like FlexVU will play a significant role in educating consumers on how to optimize their video entertainment experience by helping them to identify the most important technology ingredients and the best performing cord cutting solutions on the market.”

Nuvvyo has introduced the Tablo Dual Lite, an over-the-air TV/DVR tailored for cord-cutters that takes a “bring your own storage” approach and represents a lower-cost variant of the Tablo Dual, a product with integrated storage that was introduced in May 2017.

Both products integrate two tuners, but the new Tablo Dual Lite sells for $139.99, undercutting the cost of the recently price-reduced Tablo Dual (currently at $219.99).

RELATED: Nuvyyo Cuts Price on Tablo Dual 

The Tablo Dual Lite, which includes dual-band 802.11ac WiFi and works with Tablo apps for iOS and Android smart phones, Roku players and Roku TVs, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV devices, Apple TV boxes, Xbox One consoles, smart TVs from Samsung (Tizen-based) and LG Electronics (WebOS 2.0+), and Chromecast streaming adapters.

The Tablo Dual Lite will be available in the U.S. starting April 1 at Best Buy stores and at BestBuy.com.

While the more expensive version of the Tablo Dual integrates 64 gigabytes of storage (with the option to add more via external USB storage), the Lite option works in tandem only with external USB storage (up to 8 terabytes).

“The Tablo DUAL 64GB quickly became one of our most popular OTA DVRs, but some TV fans still prefer the ‘bring your own storage’ approach of our original 2-Tuner model,” Grant Hall, CEO of Nuvyyo, said in a statement.

RELATED: Channel Master Targets Cord-Cutters With ‘Stream+’

Tablo owners must also purchase an OTA antenna, and have the option to subscribe to Nuvvyo’s TV guide data service for $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, or $149.99 for a one-time lifetime subscription.

The Tablo product family is one of product options that are tailored for cord-cutters. TiVo, Channel Master and AirTV (a unit of Dish) have also developed products geared to support that market.

RELATED: AirTV Tests 'Local Channels DVR' Option for Android TV-Powered Player

Extending its reach to a key smart TV platform, Nuvyyo, the company behind the Tablo-branded over-the-air DVRs for cord-cutters, has launched a native app for Samsung smart TVs that are powered by the Tizen operating system.

RELATED: Nuvyyo Cuts Price on Tablo Dual

With that launch, coming just ahead of the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, Nuvyyo adds another major OS for smart TVs, expanding on earlier support for Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and LG Electronics’ webOS.

The new app for Tizen-powered TVs (starting with Samsung 2015 model years) provides access to the Tablo’s content discovery platform, as well as live playback, and DVR functions via an interface that’s tailored for big screen TVs and works with the TV’s remote control.

Nuvyyo said it is rolling out a slate of “advanced recording” features for its line of Tablo-branded DVRs that integrate free, over-the-air TV broadcasts.

The enhancements, delivered in a staged firmware update, include a set of features that allow for more precise DVR scheduling tools and management options, including:

-Adjust Start/Top Time: Allows users to start recordings up to 10 minutes early and end up to three hours after the scheduled time of a TV program.

-Keep X Recordings: Lets users retain all episodes or only a select number of airings.

-Recording Channel Selector: Users can tap this feature to select which channel to record from, if multiple channels happen to be airing a favorite program.

Those new features can be applied to single airings or to a series for Tablo users with an active subscription. The optional TV guide data subscription for Tablo devices sell for $4.99 per month, $49.99 annually, or for $149.99 for a lifetime subscription.

The update (firmware version 2.2.18) is being rolled out to the following models: Tablo 2-Tuner, Tablo 4-Tuner and the recently introduced Tablo Dual, and can be accessed via the advanced recording settings via the Tablo Channel on Roku devices, and Tablo apps for Amazon Fire TV boxes, Apple TV devices, the Android TV-powered Nvidia Shield TV, web browsers and mobile devices.

RELATED: Nuvyyo Cuts Price on Tablo Dual

Those features will also made available on additional Tablo-supported devices and Tablo platforms including the Tablo DVR Engine for the Nvidia Shield TV in the coming months, the company said.

Those Tablo boxes OTA signals and send them wirelessly to supported devices that are connected to the user’s home network.

“With these powerful advanced recording features, we believe Tablo now offers best mix of feature set, ease-of-use, and cross-device support of any antenna DVR solution,” Grant Hall, CEO of Nuvyyo, said in a statement.

Nuvyyo has reduced the price on its latest Tablo DVR for cord-cutters by $30 in the U.S. amid a wider retail launch.

Introduced in May, the Tablo Dual, a two-tuner OTA DVR with 64GB of integrated storage, originally sold for $249.99. That price has been chopped to $219.99. In Canada, the price on the model has been dropped to C$289.99, from C$329.99

RELATED: Nuvyyo Forges New Cord-Cutting Tool

That price reduction also comes with a wider retail distribution that includes several online storefronts (BestBuy.com, Amazon.com, Wallmart.com, NewEgg.com, Frys.com, and TabloTV.com), complemented by availability at a set of brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. – Best Buy, Micro Center and Fry’s Electronics.

Though a price cut on the product makes sense amid the holiday buying season, Nuvyyo said other elements factored into the decision.

"As we scale distribution of Tablo DUAL and the company overall, we are able to pass savings from efficiencies along to customers and match the commoditization we're seeing in the cord cutting device market overall,” the company said in a statement to Multichannel News.

In addition to providing integrated storage, the Tablo Dual is about 20% smaller than its predecessor. Earlier-generation Tablo products don’t have onboard storage, but do allow users to add storage by attaching a USB-connected storage device.

Tablo Dual users also have the option to add storage (up to eight terabytes) using a separate storage.

The Tablo Dual also includes a 30-day free trial to an optional TV guide data subscription that regularly sells for $4.99 per month, $49.99 annually, or for $149.99 for a lifetime subscription.

Most Tablo users are cord-cutters that connect the device to a TV antenna to receive the local over-the-air broadcast channels. The device captures those signals and sends them wirelessly to other devices on the home network. Tablo today supports platforms such as Roku players, Xbox and Nvidia Shield consoles, Apple TV boxes, Chromecast streaming adapters, Amazon Fire TV devices, web browsers, smart TVs from LG (WebOS 2.0 and 3.0), and iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. 

Nuvyyo is getting ready to turn the page on the original Tablo 2-Tuner OTA DVR, as it will end production on that model for cord-cutters and amplify its focus on its new Tablo DUAL device, which also comes with two tuners, plus integrated storage.

Related: Nuvyyo Forges New Cord-Cutting Tool

Though production on that original model (pictured)  is ending, Nuvyyo stressed that it will continue to support existing Tablo 2-Tuner OTA DVRs with firmware and app updates. Additionally, existing Tablo TV guide data subscriptions will continue to work with those products, the company said.

Production on the 4-Tuner Tablo OTA DVR will continue, the company said.

It’s also blowing out some inventory, offering refurbished 2-Tuner TAblo OTA DVRs for $99.99, along with a 30-day trial if a guide data subscription and covered by a 12-month warranty. But those refurbished devices aren’t eligible for the company’s 30-day return policy, standard on new units.

The Tablo Dual, about 20% smaller than its predecessor, went on sale in June, and includes 64 gigabytes of onboard DVR storage, about enough to hold about 50 hours of HD programming. By comparison, the original two-tuner Tablo product requires users to bring their own storage device by tethering the Tablo to a hard drive with a USB cable.  

Nuvyyo is complementing its line of over-the-air/DVR hardware with a new, software-based offering that will initially target the Nvidia Shield and eventually reach other Android TV devices.

That new app, the Tablo Engine, turns the Shield into a cord-cutting device when paired with a new, USB-connected Tablo Tuner, which integrates two tuners and allows users to capture free over-the-air signals from local broadcast stations. Using the Tablo Engine, recordings are saved to Nvidia Shield’s internal storage in MPEG-2 format.

The Tablo Engine app is free on Google Play, and includes a free, 30-day trial of the platform’s guide data subscription, which Nuvyyo is selling for $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year. Nuvyyo’s approach with the Tablo Engine is new in that it provides an option to consumers who prefer an “HDMI-connected OTA DVR experience,” the company said. By comparison, its recently launched Tablo Dual OTA DVR integrates two tuners and 64 Gigabytes of on-board DVR storage, and shuttles broadcast TV signals wirelessly to other devices on the home network, rather than connecting via an HDMI cable.

The Tablo Engine and tuner also provide a new way for consumers to use the company’s cord-cutting platform without having to purchase separate Tablo OTA DVR hardware.

Nuvyyo’s latest batch of products expand others that are tailored for cord-cutters, such as the TiVo Roamio OTA, Dish Network AirTV Player and Adapter, and Channel Master DVR+, which does not require a subscription for guide data.

Looking to bring more simplicity to a DVR that captures over-the-air TV signals and is targeted at cord-cutters, Nuvyyo has added integrated video storage with the launch of a new product called the Tablo Dual.

About 20% smaller than its predecessor, the Tablo Dual integrates two tuners and bakes in 64 gigabytes of onboard DVR storage, about enough to hold about 50 hours of HD programming.

The earlier-generation Tablo doesn’t have onboard storage, but does let users add storage by attaching a USB-connected storage device. Tablo Dual users also have the option to add storage (up to eight terabytes) using a separate storage.

Grant Hall, CEO of Nuvyyo, said onboard storage with the Tablo Dual will reduce friction and reduce the total cost of ownership for consumers.

The Tablo Dual, available in the U.S. on June 4, carries an MSRP of $249.99. It’ll be available at select Best Buy stores and Best Buy’s web site. Nuvyyo is also selling it direct via its site to consumers in Canada for C$329.99. 

The previous-generation two-tuner Tablo DVR sells for $219.99, and a four-tuner version fetches almost $300. Hall said most Tablo users implement attached storage.

The Tablo Dual also includes a 30-day free trial to an optional TV guide data subscription that regularly sells for $4.99 per month, $49.99 annually, or for $149.99 for a lifetime subscription.

Hall said there’s a “very high take rate” on the optional subscription, noting that the price also includes remote access features and 14 days of guide data.

Hall said a two-tuner version helped to get the Tablo Dual to an “accessible price point,” and allowed that a four-tuner version would be the next logical step, though the company has yet to announce what’s coming after the Tablo Dual.

Most Tablo users are cord-cutters that connect the device to a TV antenna to receive the local over-the-air broadcast channels. The device captures those signals and sends them wirelessly to other devices on the home network. Tablo today supports Roku player, Xbox and Nvidia Shield consoles, Apple TV boxes, Chromecast streaming adapters, Amazon Fire TV devices, web browsers, smart TVs from LG (WebOS 2.0 and 3.0), and iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

“We’re really just another app,” Hall said.

RELATED: Tablo Launches Apple TV App

That approach differs than some other vendors that also have built OTA-OTT combination products tailored for cord-cutters, such as the TiVo with the Roamio OTA, Dish Network’s AirTV Player and Adapter, and Channel Master’s subscription-free DVR+. TiVo has been working on the “Mavrik,” an OTA device that will work with a cloud DVR, but ZatzNotFunny reported this week that TiVo has scrapped plans to launch it and weighing the future of its larger retail product strategy. 

RELATED: AirTV Firmware Update Stitches Over-the-Air Channels to Guide

At CES in January, the company introduced the Tablo DROID, a software version of a Tablo DVR that initially runs on the Android TV-powered Nvidia Shield. That product is in beta now and is expected to ship soon, Hall said, adding that the product will also support other Android TV devices.

Ottawa, Canada-based Nuvyyo has not announced shipment numbers for its Tablo products, but the privately held company announced last month that it had achieved a three-year growth rate of 288%.

Television viewers are starting to get back to their wireless roots.

As if traditional pay TV companies don’t have enough headaches from all the new over-the-top upstarts such as Sling TV and Sony’s PlayStation Vue — not to mention HBO Now’s recent debut on Apple TV devices — the nation’s cable, satellite and telco TV distributors have another new over-the-top threat to contend with: TV antennas.

Make no mistake: These offerings aren’t your grandfather’s rabbit ears. Companies with high-tech, futuristic names like Nuvyyo and Mohu are jumping into the game, along with TiVo, ChannelMaster, Tablet TV and Simple TV, all of which are combining state-of-the-art digital antennas with over-the-air digital video recorders.

New DVRs can snag content from over-the-air TV stations, the Internet and from subscription over-the-top services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime Instant Video. Cobbled together, free broadcast TV and an online video-on-demand service offer a viable alternative to increasingly expensive pay TV packages.

Digital video recorder pioneer TiVo is probably the most well-known name to enter the space — it launched its OTA “Roamio” product last year and has since debuted a $49.99 version that allows customers to watch and record HD-quality broadcast stations, streaming video and subscription VOD.

In February, Roamio introduced a “One Pass” feature that allows viewers to track every episode of specific shows they want to catch up on and display them in a “My Shows” folder. Roamio also includes the intuitive TiVo guide and requires customers to pay a $14.99 monthly fee for storage and guide usage.

Other offerings from Mohu, Nuvyyo, ChannelMaster and Simple TV pair up desktop-size HD antennas that can draw in as many as 40 or 50 digital over-the-air channels in high-quality HD, with DVR capabilities and access to online video and over-the-top subscription services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Instant Video, with hopes of extending it to HBO Now, Sling TV and Sony PlayStation Vue.

WHO’S THE AUDIENCE?

While choices continue to grow, the burning question for OTA companies will be just which demographic they are targeting, Telsey Advisory Group analyst Tom Eagan said.

“What is the demographic and psychographic of those viewers: Are they willing to pay for a box and a monthly fee?” Eagan asked. “I think that the TiVo OTA device has potential, but the question is, how many of those 10 million [cord-nevers] will pay?”

For that reason, Eagan believes cable operators are safe for now.

“I don’t think it puts pressure on the MSOs because they don’t serve those viewers anyway,” Eagan said. “But it could serve to add marginal revenue to the programmers which they’ll need with the squeeze we expect due to operator consolidation.”

The idea is that cost-conscious viewers can significantly slash their pay TV bills by combining free over-the-air service with one or several OTT offerings. While the viewer won’t get all the channels they get on cable — and will still require a standalone broadband service for the online-video offerings — they can get most of the programming they want for a much-lower price.

For example, while a traditional expanded basic-cable package can cost about $75 per month for 150 channels, a consumer with an antenna (with a one-time equipment cost of $49.99 to $149.99) and a Sling TV subscription ($20 per month for around 20 channels and counting) will spend less than half that amount.

Over-the-air transmission is nothing new — it was TV’s original delivery method more than 70 years ago. But gone are the bulky and unattractive rooftop antennas and the unwieldy set-top rabbit ears that dominated the space for years. In their place are sleek, small and unobtrusive antennas that don’t look out of place on a bookshelf or mantle. And when coupled with an over-the-air digital video recorder and an online subscription video-on-demand service, they can offer an attractive alternative to traditional pay TV service.

There are about 12.6 million U.S. homes that watch only broadcast TV, according to Nielsen, versus about 100 million homes that have some type of pay TV subscription. And despite the free nature of OTA, getting access to subscription video-on-demand still requires a broadband connection. In most areas, that means maintaining a relationship with a cable or telco broadband provider.

Pay TV operators have responded to the competitive threat with attractive bundle pricing: Comcast offers a package of 140 video channels and 25 Megabits-per-second Internet service for $79.99 per month for one year (rising to $121.90-$136.90 after the first year). The non-promotional price of standalone broadband can cost about $66.95 per month, making the bundle the better value.

But as consumers grow more frustrated and programming packages become more flexible, the pairing of over-the-air service with “skinny” video could become more compelling.

“In the same way that we’ve seen an enormous fragmentation of the channels people watch, “our view is that over the next 20 years, we’ll see a similar fragmentation in the platforms they use to watch these channels,” TiVo chief marketing officer Ira Bahr said.

WEB COMPLEMENT

Free OTA television makes an ideal partner with emerging over-the-top subscription video services like Dish Network’s Sling TV (which brought ESPN outside of the traditional programming bundle), Sony PlayStation Vue and existing services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Instant Video.

“You take an over-the-top service — whether it be either Apple or Sony or Sling TV or whatever, it really doesn’t matter — and you marry it with over-the-air signals, that’s going to be a powerful proposition for many consumers,” Bahr said.

The situation is a little different for TiVo, which has a large customer base for its more traditional DVR set-tops in the pay TV sector. Bahr doesn’t see TiVo’s Roamio box as a total replacement for pay TV, but as a way for consumers to access — and integrate — all of their services more easily.

But other companies focusing on the over-the-air space see two markets emerging — one for the 10 million or so households that have never had a pay TV subscription and a second for additional sets in pay TV homes.

According to Nielsen, the number of broadcast TV-only homes rose from 12.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 12.6 million in first-quarter 2015, while the number of TV sets has stayed relatively steady, at about three per household.

Increasingly, TV antennas are beginning to attract interest from cost-conscious customers and younger viewers who don’t want to pay for channels they don’t watch.

That could be a big selling point for OTA because, according to Nuvyyo CEO Grant Hall, broadcast is what most people are watching anyway.

“About 47 of the top 50 shows are available over the air,” Hall said. “There is still a lot of content that people rely on.”

Nuvyyo just launched the latest version of its broadcast digital video recorder, the Tablo Metro, in the first quarter, and believes the market may be more like 20 million or 30 million homes, or between 20% and 25% of the nation’s 110 million television households.

Driving that increase, Hall argued, is the introduction of devices like Roku and Apple TV — estimated to be in about 20% of U.S. homes.

“I would argue that we’re kind of at the tipping point [where] OTT and OTA is really going to take off this year,” Hall said. “A lot of people are saying that this will be the year of the cord-cutter, 2015. All the tools are falling into place to replace the old legacy experience and I think there is demand out there.”

Unlike the not-too-distant past, when some antenna companies had to wait for the latest retransmission-consent blackout for a sales boost, consumers are increasingly warming up to the idea of free TV. Last year, Antennas Direct hosted an event in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with TVFreedom, a consortium of stations, small businesses and other groups interested in preserving over-the-air TV. It gave away 1,000 HD antennas is about an hour. Antennas Direct has said it has given away about 15,000 antennas over the past two years.

Others, like Mohu, have paired up with cable operators during blackouts for giveaways — CEO Mark Buff said the company has sold about 1.5 million to 2 million TV antennas since 2010 (it was initially a manufacturer of military antennas and has had pay TV-provider customers in the past). Though the momentum seems to be shifting toward a combination of over-the-top services and over-the-air stations targeting consumers who either never had a pay TV service or have recently cut the cord, Buff sees opportunity in providing a broadcast alternative for customers of more traditional pay TV providers.

“We certainly get phone calls from companies we wouldn’t expect to get phone calls from,” Buff said, adding that that fights over retransmission consent have helped Mohu’s antenna business.

But not everyone is warming up to the idea that free TV will take a bite out of pay television subscriptions.

NOT QUITE ENOUGH

Pivotal Research Group principal and senior media and communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak said he was skeptical that over-the-air television offers enough to get customers to cut the cord.

“Realistically, Netflix could drive consumers into these options better than anyone, but I doubt they would actually do so, given it would alienate the folks they buy content from,” Wlodarczak said. “So in the end I don’t think this makes pay TV nervous.”

Mohu has four antenna products: the Leaf Metro, the Leaf 30, the Leaf 50 and the Sky 60, ranging in price from $24.99 to $149.99 and delivering from 32 to 60 over-the-air channels. The devices are sleek, thin and compact — the Leaf 30 and Leaf 50 can fit on a bookshelf — and deliver high-quality HD signals that outperform pay TV in quality because signals are not compressed.

The over-the-air choices depend on the individual market but in metropolitan New York City, at least 58 digital OTA channels are available, including the digital feeds of the major broadcast networks, three public broadcast channels, Spanish-language broadcasters Telemundo and Univision and digital niche channels such as Antenna TV, Decades, Cozi TV and Bounce TV.

Earlier in March, Mohu launched Channels, a service that ties in SVOD providers like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon with its over-the-air offerings, which it hopes will resonate with customers. Mohu also is in talks with Dish Network to be a certified Sling TV partner.

“Up until Sling TV, your only option was Comcast and Time Warner Cable,” Hall said. “Now, that option is available if you have Netflix and Hulu, Sling and us — the local broadcast networks, two-thirds of all the shows that people watch — that combination gives you ammunition to say goodbye Comcast, goodbye Time Warner, goodbye Verizon.”

ChannelMaster executive vice president Joe Bingochea said OTA companies should strive to offer a growing menu of services. Channel- Master, which has sold a line of antenna products since 1949 and has an over-the-air DVR product (DVR Plus), is readying its own OTA “linear” service to add to the mix.

Bingochea said the company expects to launch the service, which basically allows it to aggregate and integrate over-the-top and online content, including The Pursuit Channel, the Outdoor Cooking Channel and Foodie TV, into its guide product at the April 13 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

“We want to give the consumer options,” Bingochea said. “If you want Sling TV, we want to have it on our box. If you want to order movies a la carte, we have Vudu for transactional VOD. If you want online video, we have YouTube for online.”

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Over-The-Air Broadcast TV

1.MORE CHANNELS THAN YOU THOUGHT. Beyond ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, in some markets there are as many as 50 digital broadcast channels available over the air, including Spanish-language Telemundo, Univision and Unimas, Chinese-language NTDTV, kids’ channel Qubo and family-friendly and classic TV channels such as Cozi TV, MeTV, Antenna TV, Bounce TV, Escape TV, Grit and This TV. All for free.

2.DVRs ARE EVERYWHERE. You don’t need a cable, telco or satellite subscription to record over-the-air shows on a digital video recorder. Companies like TiVo, Nuvyyo, Channel Master, Simple TV and others have all come out with variations of products that will record, pause and rewind live broadcast shows, complete with programing guides that offer show synopses, cover art and metadata.

3.QUALITY TV FOR CHEAP. Broadcasters still spend big on original programming. And broadcast shows are consistently at the top of the most-watched programming. According to the Television Bureau of Advertising, 96 of the top 100 shows in 2014 were broadcast shows.

4.BROADCAST-ONLY HOMES ARE GROWING. According to Nielsen, the number of broadcast-only homes is on the rise. As of March, 12.6 million TV homes received their TV via broadcast-only, up from 12.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2014.

5.NOT MUCH BROADBAND. More than half of the broadcast- only homes in the U.S., about 6.6 million households, also have no access to broadband or narrowband Internet, according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report

SOURCE: NAB, TVB, Nielsen, SNL Kagan, individual companies.