richard schneider

The two companies are stepping up a joint effort to persuade consumers to cut the cable TV cord  and substitute a mix of OTA and OTT programming. Direct supplies the antennas, while TiVo supplies the box that not only records and stores off-air programming, but also interfaces with the broadband video world of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. In the works is a plan that would let stations share in the monthly fees that TiVo charges by promoting the Antennas Direct-TiVo solution. “Our goal is to create an on-going, sustainable and increasing revenue stream for stations,” says Antennas Direct’s Pete D’Acosta.

The owner of Antennas Direct turned a hobby into a $10 million-a-year business supplying TV antennas to the steadily increasing number of consumers who are dropping cable for free over-the-air TV. He’s bullish on OTA and can’t understand why the FCC now wants “to kill it in the crib.”