PHOENIX — TV antenna maker Channel Master reported “a huge surge in sales in August, a lift executives attribute to publicity alerting all consumers about ways to maintain their broadcast reception in the wake of the month-long carriage dispute between Time Warner Cable and CBS.”
Channel Master said sales of its broadcast TV antennas in August were up 150 percent compared to July. Its most popular products, the indoor/outdoor SMARTenna; the indoor CLEARtenna; and the outdoor EXTREMEtenna were its three top sellers for the month.
Channel Master said website traffic was also up in late August for both channelmaster.com and antennachoice.com, when Time Warner Cable announced that it would give out free antennas to its customers in Los Angeles, New York and Dallas.
“The publicity surrounding the Time Warner Cable/CBS dispute was national in scope and attention. It was one of the best reminders to the general consumer population that much of their most popular programming is produced for free broadcast consumption – and all anyone needs is a good antenna and digital broadcast converter box. We at Channel Master clearly were among the beneficiaries from the dispute,” said Isaac Valenzuela, Channel Master director of marketing.
