With more and more people cutting the cord and looking for cheaper ways to watch tv.

Antennas have made a comeback.

Consumer reports explains why a little antenna upkeep will keep you from losing any of your favorite channels.

Here's today's on your side.

" imagine getting dozens of tv channels for free.

Depending on where you live, that's exactly what a tv antenna can give you--broadcast channels from the major networks, and maybe a few channels from networks you've never heard of.

But you have to perform some easy maintenance with your remote control.

It's called rescanning.

Chyron: jim willcox, consumer reports tech editor (sot) "rescanning really is simply just having your tv tuner do an update to see if there are more channels that are available."

(v/o) it's something you should do about once a month.

Why?

If it was a cloudy or rainy day when you did your original scan, you may not be getting all the channels available to you.

And, some stations are adding subchannels which could include a mix of classic tv shows, weather and foreign- language programming.

So, how exactly do you rescan?

(sot: jim willcox) "every tv has its own way of doing a scan.

The main thing is that you should look for something called channel scan or channel tuning.

That could be in the main menu, that could be under tv settings."

(v/o) if you can't find it anywhere else, try hitting the source or input button on your remote.

And then select antenna.

You'll most likely have the option of auto or manual scan.

Cr suggests auto scan.

(sot: jim willcox) "auto scan will just automatically look for all the channels that are available in your area."

(v/o) although rescanning has always been a good idea...it's even more important now.

(sot: jim willcox) "a couple of years ago, the fcc held a spectrum auction and they freed up some of the broadcast tv frequencies to make room for high speed wireless services.

As a result of that, about a thousand tv stations had to move their frequencies."

(v/o) and that transition won't be complete until next summer.

So make sure you rescan every once in a while.

."

Cr also says you don't have to worry about losing your favorite channels!

None of your channel numbers will change, just the frequencies the signals are