In 2009, all broadcast channels were switched over to a digital signal by law. At that point, your old TV with an antenna stopped working unless you had a box attached to it that converted the digital signal so that your old TV could understand it. If you had cable TV, you already had a box to do the conversion. Newer TVs were built to accept a digital signal, so all you'd need to get the over the air signal was a special antenna, and the signal was free. But, with the new system, just like before, if you didn't get cable service, you only got the broadcast channels, so no ESPN, or all those other channels that come to you over the cable instead of the air.
