TV Scout Antenna Attachment

[gkroo]

Notice on the internet a company promoting this device called "TV Scout"  BTW, they claim that it is 100% legal since all cable companies are also required to broadcast over the airwaves for free.  So, they say, the cable companies send out a very weak or otherwise inaccessible signal that their product knows how to download directly to your TV gratis.  They are selling this device in the US for $30 and say that they work worldwide ?? Any further info and experience with this product would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance. 

[Peterw42]

Its a scam, they are just selling aerials to pick up the normal free to air channels. Because lots of people have cable or satellite, they have forgotten that there is normal free to air channels broadcasting.

It should read "some" of the cable channels, are also available for free via an Aerial. In Thailand if you have cable you will get 3,5,7 etc, but you can also get those channels with an aerial.

Scam, scam, scam.

If you can remember having rabbit ear antennas on your old TV, That is literally what they are selling.

They are not making false statements as cable TV channels are available using their aerial, they are however leaving out the word "all", also they use the word Free a lot, ie: the free channels.

They also talk about a weak signal being broadcast, its weak as in the local broadcast tower covers a small area, not the whole country.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2017 by Peterw42

[RichCor]

To add to what @Peterw42 wrote...

 

"they claim that it is 100% legal since all cable companies are also required to broadcast over the airwaves for free."

 

This isn't true.  Most cable companies are required to 'carry' and 'make available' the local FTA (Free To Air) program content of local broadcasters. Cable companies are in the business of bundling and delivering program content (and/or Internet connections) and getting paid to do so -- whether the content be free, sponsored, or pay to view.

 

That said, some cable system 'leak' signals due to bad shielding on their cable runs. It's possible, if you are close enough to the signal leak, or have 'a high-gain antenna', to pick up these cable-based signals without having direct access to the physical cable.

 

Unfortunately, since cable companies, like satellite cable companies, have to constantly deal with lost revenue due to theft of service, they usually encrypt their broadcasts ...even the FTA ones they are mandated to carry, and require a Set-Top-Box to tune and decrypt many if not all of the channels carried.

 

So, good luck getting that thing to work.  

[dddave]

My sister in the US was getting very poor OTA TV reception so I ordered one of the "Super Enhanced" antennas from Amazon for her, about $50. It turned out to be no better than old style rabbit ears. Returned it to Amazon.