I don't think that is true. By 2040, 70% of the population is expected to live in just 15 states. rated mostly true by politifact, which says it's 67.2%
Funny story, when I was fixing tvs for money, part time, a girl from Pratt Institute called me and wanted me to fix her sewing machine. I picked it up and while there she complained about her tv reception. She lived in ateel frame building. I told her to get a wire and run it out the window, which was nearby. I failed to fix the sewing machine (they are a mystery.) and I returned it, she'd bought a new tv which also got bad reception. She gave me the old tv which worked fine in my 6-story building. I was on the side facing the World Trade Center. I don't know if reception was as good on the other side.
I think people watch cable and pay for streaming while ignoring OTA for the same reason they drink bottled water instead of the stuff that comes out of the faucet. They've been sold a bill of goods. it's the same reason many African women in the 70's used infant formula instead of mother's milk, even when they couldn't afford to buy enough to nourish their child. They thought infant formula was western, modern, and great. The same reason many of those women in the US in the 50's or
60's who could have nursed their babies switched to infant formula. It was modern, so it must be better.One can record OTA shows too, and FF the commercials.