We included some amplified TV antennas in our review. The antenna that pulled in the most stations for most of our testers cost $35, and several pricier models were in the lower half of our rankings. The antennas we tested ranged in price from $10 to more than $100-and we found little correlation between price and performance. In addition to a TV antenna, all you need to watch your local stations is a TV equipped with a digital TV tuner, something included in almost all TVs since 2007.

“The signals may be less compressed,” says Claudio Ciacci, lead television tester at Consumer Reports. Websites such as AntennaWeb and the Federal Communications Commission’s DTV Reception Maps page can give you an idea of which stations you might expect to receive.Īs a bonus, the picture quality you get from your indoor TV antenna might be better than what you get from cable. These offer additional programming, such as old TV shows, B movies, and niche content. But there are now dozens of digital subchannels under the primary channels, too. If you live near a major TV market, you’ll probably get many local stations-ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, plus PBS and Telemundo-using a TV antenna.

An indoor TV antenna can help fill that gap.

These services-which include DirecTV Stream, FuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV-don’t always provide local programming in all markets. Even if you subscribe to a cable replacement service that brings you channels such as AMC and HGTV, you might still want an antenna.

Indoor hdtv antenna