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As cord-cutting increases across the U.S., broadcasters are there to catch pay TV defectors with free over-the-air multicast networks, also known as diginets.
Since the broadcast television completed the transition to digital in 2009, broadcasters have had several extra channels of spectrum with which to play, and many of them have turned that spectrum into nice little side hustles. In 2022, a non-presidential election year, local TV over-the-air advertising revenue totaled $20.5 billion, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Media Access Pro and BIA Advisory Services data. Digital advertising revenue, including multicast and free ad-supported television (FAST) channels, totaled $2 billion or 10% of total ad revenue. Some $1.2 billion of that is derived from multicast networks, a business that has grown tenfold in the 15 or so years that it has existed, says Jonathan Katz, president-CEO of Free TV Networks.
Nearly 19% of the U.S.’s 125 million TV households receive free television over the air, either via an OTA-enabled television set or digital antenna, according to Nielsen. The main goal of multicast networks is to serve those 23 or so million households with quality free over-the-air programming so that they can have an at-home entertainment experience at a far lower cost than pay TV.
“We create top-tier digital broadcast networks at the best possible price point, which is free,” says Katz, who oversees Free TV Networks, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery, Lionsgate and Gray Television. Free