General entertainment offer Digital Terrestrial Television or DTT It is still the queen of many Spanish lounges with its questionable image quality, having taken an important step in the right direction with the blackout of SD channels in 2024.

However, for most of us seasoned viewers with a few years behind us, this is normal. For younger generations, the situation is strange, even confusing: use an antenna connected to the TV to watch free channels For some young users this is a real revelation.

Digital natives and television via antenna

Because it seems strange receiving television and radio channels via antenna This was the origin of the expansion of mass media. But of course, we have only experienced these periods if we are over the age of 25-30.

For digital natives and even some millennials, TV is synonymous with antenna, not antenna. broadcast platformscontent downloads, channels of Internet operators and social networks with access to TikTok, YouTube, etc.

A trend that has led to the proliferation of videos on networks; here we will discuss not only how it is possible to make our own antennas to receive TV channels at home (i.e. to receive DTT), but also so you don’t have to pay anything. Come on, like most of us have been doing for the last 60 years.

What’s interesting is not that they explain how to make a TV antenna with a paper clip or a piece of cable (which, by the way, often does not work as well as they promise), but rather the comments. related to Many young users who do not know that this “almost magical” miracle is possible.

This is a clearer trend in countries that have had access to pay television services for many years, such as the USA. coaxial cable network This has enabled the purchase of different packages for decades, meaning that many middle-class homes have not resorted to a TV antenna to watch TV in years.

For children who are born in these cable TV homes and later switch to internet service, the TV antenna is an accessory that they do not know why it is there, that is, it is installed. So it’s surprising that someone in a video would tell them that You can watch channels for free and completely legally.

In fact, this is a trend partially reflected in the latest CNMC Home Panel, along with the usage preferences of Spanish viewers; They examined the type of audiovisual service consumed, among other questions. clearly affected by the age of the user.

As seen in the graph below, young people aged 10-15 were already consuming by the end of 2023. more hours watching video sharing platforms and video on demand services than watching regular free TV (1 hour vs. 2.4 hours).

These averages increased for the 16 to 24 age group. 4 hours on Internet platforms compared to 1 hour on open TV channels. Seniors aged 65 and above barely used these options and instead spent 3.3 hours a day watching free television/DTT.

It is worth noting that in the limited hours that those under 25 spend watching free-to-air channels on TV, there is no distinction made as to whether this is through telecommunications operators, so this fact is not surprising. access to TV through an old antenna This is somehow unknown to most of the younger users.

More information | CNMC

Cover image | Alberto Contreras

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