Nielsen Almost, Sort Of Acknowledges Cord Cutting → Re: Where do OTA viewers fit in with this?

Nielsen pretends that OTA doesn't exist. They don't count OTA as "zero TV".

Here is what Nielsen says: "Most people watch TV in their living rooms using traditional cable or satellite options. In fact, more than 95 percent of Americans get their information and entertainment that way."

But that's impossible, because 17.8% of TV households rely exclusively on OTA: »www.nab.org/documents/ne ··· ?id=2761

Sorry to say......they do know that OTA exists and they do measure it.

The other funny thing is I actually put up an antenna because my wife liked American Idol but wanted to hear and see it's highest quality which is OTA. At the time my cable system didn't even offer digital service I don't think and I wasn't getting Sat for American Idol. I did have an HDTV and 5.1 stero connected to it. So really the only reason I started fooling around with an antenna was because my cable company couldn't offer anything near the uncompressed HD signal from the towers.

OTA signals are not 'uncompressed'

True, all programs are compressed - raw video takes way too much bandwidth. However Cable and Sat providers often additionally compress the feed they get from the station to fit more programs in available channel capacity.

If that is being done OTA will yield better picture quality.

/Tom

That number comes from the NAB, so it's not an unbiased source. Two years ago, Nielsen was stating around 10%: »www.dtvusaforum.com/cont ··· ear.html

I imagine that's an average number as well - urban dwellers with higher numbers of apartment homes will be less than the plains of Wyoming.