Enhancements to the AntennaWeb.org site allow consumers to...
Enhancements to the AntennaWeb.org site allow consumers to “connect” with CEA-member antenna vendors, said CEA Monday. Broadcast Interactive Media (BIM), a data services supplier, runs the site under a co-sponsorship between CEA and NAB, though the announcement didn’t mention NAB…
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by name. Consumers who plug in an address at AntennaWeb.org are taken to a chart that shows which over-the-air channels are available at that address and the color-coded antenna types needed to receive those channels without a pay TV connection. “When shoppers choose a color-coded antenna type matching their viewing preferences, AntennaWeb.org takes the consumers to the product pages on vendors’ websites,” CEA said. “There, shoppers can purchase the selected antenna and peripheral products through vendors’ existing online storefronts.” “Ready to Buy an Antenna?” read the instructions at AntennaWeb.org. “Click on a manufacturer’s logo to shop from these participating CEA members for the color-coded antenna type that matches your viewing needs.” In our case, it was Channel Master, and clicking on its logo brought us directly to its online store. CEA spokeswoman Samantha Nevels said BIM drafted the Monday announcement, and so bore responsibility for omitting mention of NAB. BIM deliberately excluded mentioning NAB because the announcement was about “connecting consumers to participating CEA certified vendors,” Heidi Steffen, BIM senior vice president-licensed applications sales, told us in an email. “There were no items within our changes of the site that required any input from the NAB,” she said. “The NAB remains a solid partner and advocate/sponsor of the site.” NAB is still a co-sponsor of AntennaWeb.org and is identified as such on the website along with CEA, confirmed NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton in an email. Last month, a CEA survey found that the percentage in the U.S. of Internet-only TV homes soon will top that of homes that get their TV exclusively through an antenna, evidence that fewer American homes are now using only antennas to watch their favorite TV programs. It drew a sharp rebuke from outspoken antenna supplier Antennas Direct (CED June 9 p7), which, upon prompting from NAB, said consumers are embracing over-the-air DTV reception “at a pace that is shocking for even the jaded consumer electronics industry.” In an emailed statement, Antennas Direct President Richard Schneider said: “It is great to see that the CEA is investing in the growing market of over the air television.”