Over-The-Air Broadcast Television (OTA)

Background

Over-the-air broadcast television is the way to obtain a local television “signal” free, via an antenna, and it was originally the only way all TV households received TV service. As technology has evolved, there are now many other ways a consumer can access TV content. Cable & satellite services (often referred to as Multichannel Video Programming Distributors or MVPDs) and streaming services that mimic cable & satellite (Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors or vMVPDs) are among the most popular ways to watch programming on a TV that include local broadcast TV station content. According to Nielsen, Broadband Only Homes (BBO) are also included in the universe of TV households, but don’t have a traditional TV service (OTA, cable, satellite, or vMVPD). BBO homes have a broadband Internet connection and receive TV content from streaming platforms only.

Changes in definition

Prior to April 2024, Nielsen defined OTA only as households not having a cable or satellite connection, but they could have a vMVPD provider. In April 2024 Nielsen redefined OTA only by excluding vMVPDs from the bucket. An OTA only home is now defined as a home with an over-the-air antenna connection that does not have a cable, satellite or vMVPD connection.

In making the change to OTA in April 2024, Nielsen also removed vMVPD homes that were being reported in the Broadband Only homes bucket (BBO). The vMVPD homes that Nielsen removed from OTA and BBO are now being reported in ADS (Alternate Delivery Systems).

TVB has trended the national penetrations of Cable, ADS, and Over-the-Air, but due to this significant April 2024 change, we will not be comparing the new definition numbers to the old definition numbers going forward. However, to make things clearer, TVB has broken out vMVPDs and Satellite as two different entities instead of showing one ADS number in the chart below.

We will show the current national breakdown of media-related universe estimates as provided by Nielsen quarterly for the months of November, February, May, and July. Below are the November 2024 figures.