Do you remember the CEDIA Expo, that showcase for folks who install high-end electronics equipment for high-end customers? I visited the latest version earler this month and found surprising encouragement for the future of free TV.

Mind you, I’m not talking about free-to-air satellite TV, the hundreds of quirky channels that got this blog started. This is plain old terrestrial over-the-air TV, and I’m happy to say that even the folks who can afford anything they want are still seeing the value in it.

Last year, if you’ll recall, I found exactly one booth that promoted anything to do with OTA TV. This year, there were at least four. Last year, TiVo announced a new line of Roamio DVRs, and they were the company’s first that didn’t include OTA inputs. This year, TiVo announced a new OTA-only receiver for cord-cutters, although technically that announcement was a couple of weeks before the CEDIA Expo and the Roamio OTA didn’t make it to the show.

I also found OTA two antenna manufacturers (Winegard and Televes) at CEDIA, and way in the back was Tablo, an OTA DVR designed with tablets in mind. Yet another OTA specialist, Antennas Direct, had a trailer set up across the street from the convention center. Consider that the Expo was chock full of super-high-end speakers, room-sized golf simulators, and Blu-ray movie management consoles, then it’s refreshing to learn that the customers who buy such high-end frills still care about OTA TV. Maybe they can help us work to support free TV for everybody.