Consumer frustration with DTV reception coupled with high consumer approval ratings for Antennas Direct’s over-the-air antennas has pushed sales for the company’s first quarter of 2009 up 224% over the first quarter of 2008. With a sizable amount of media attention, industry enthusiasm and consumer demand, St. Louis-based antenna manufacturer Antennas Direct has transformed quickly from a one-man company to a multimillion dollar business by designing the most efficient, mass-produced TV antennas tuned specifically for digital frequencies.
“Educating the public on the differences in television antenna technology has been one of our biggest challenges,” said Richard Schneider, president of Antennas Direct. “But people are beginning to understand — not in technical terms, but results — that there is a difference among antennas when it comes to digital reception. Our sales in first quarter of 2009 totaled over $2 million, which is more revenue than our company made the entire year of 2006.”
At the end of last year, Antennas Direct announced that its ClearStream antennas were to be sold on the floor at Best Buy stores nationwide. At the same time, the company launched its nationwide AntennasNOW! tour that assisted network television stations in building awareness of antennas for receiving DTV multicast programming. Popularity of the ClearStream models grew so much on the tour, Best Buy stores began doubling their monthly orders from Antennas Direct.
Antennas Direct was founded in 2001 by Schneider, a home-theater enthusiast, who was determined to design the best antenna for reception of high-definition channels. With the help of antenna engineers and the latest computer simulation software, Antennas Direct created the ClearStream family of antennas, which are optimized for core DTV frequencies.
About Antennas Direct
Antennas Direct is a St. Louis-based manufacturer and distributor of over-the-air antennas. The company was founded by Richard Schneider in 2003 and has since been widely recognized for superior product design and performance by a number of industry publications and main stream media outlets. Having invested major resources into the discovery and implementation of new technological advances in television antenna design, Antennas Direct continually tests and modifies antenna designs, raising the bar by which antenna performance and appearance are measured.