One beneficiary of the Cablevision/Fox retrans dispute appears to be Antenna Direct, which says it has seen a
300% increase in antenna sales in the New York and Philadelphia area.
At press time, Fox stations in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia had been off Cablevision Systems since
Oct. 16.
According to Antenna Direct, which is essentially an Internet storefront that outsources production and
distribution, it has had to boost customers service hours and retail shipments in the Northeast to meet the
demand.
That demand could increase if Fox and Dish network don't come to terms on carriage of Fox TV stations by a
Nov. 1 deadline.
The FCC put out a consumer advisory about the Fox/Cablevision impasse advising viewers of three options, two of which required "an appropriate antenna connected to the TV set or the converter box.
Depending on your location, this could be either an outdoor rooftop antenna or an indoor antenna." The other
option was switching to satellite, telcos, or, in a few areas of Brooklyn, overbuilder RCN.
