LPTV Coalition: OTA Audience Could Be More Like 100 Million

In the hours before a hearing on video regulation and the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, formed to advocate for LPTV rights in the upcoming spectrum incentive auction, has told House Communications Subcommittee Greg Walden (R-OR) that the universe of people who can still watch free, over-the-air TV is probably more like 81 million to 100 million, rather than the lower estimates based on over-the-air (OTA) only households. The 81-100 million figure is based on an estimate of the number of pay-TV homes still with over-the-air-receiving TV sets (50%), says the coalition. Adding those pay-TV households is why the figure is nearly double the estimates of the National Association of Broadcasters, which estimates that just under 20% of the 299 million US residents (57 million) are in over-the-air-only households, says the coalition. The coalition wants the committee to think of that 100 million "potential" OTA audience when it considers how to regulate the video marketplace.