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Streaming may be the new normal, but there's still a place for live TV in our homes. Big events like the Super Bowl or the Oscars are best watched live, while local channels provide access to news and movies without an expensive cable plan. A TV antenna is an affordable alternative to access over-the-air (OTA) channels available for free. The trick is choosing the right antenna for your location and setup.

OTA TV offers a wider variety of choices than you might not remember if you haven't used a rabbit-ear antenna. These days, most of your local TV stations offer two or three different "channels" per station. Besides the big over-the-air networks, there are also numerous smaller networks such as MeTV, AntennaTV, and Comet, which offer older TV shows; Univision, Estrella TV, and Telemundo for Spanish-language TV; and QVC and other home shopping networks. In addition, most stations broadcast their network programs on HDTV. Unlike your local cable or satellite company, they don't charge you a thing for the extra "service."

For our April update, we made some minor editorial changes and verified all products were in stock.