I wanted to comment a response on this article but it didn't have an option to do so. The following is excerpted from around the start of the article, it must have been written by someone too young to remember...
Do Smart TVs Come With A Built-In Antenna?
By Gaurav Shukla Dec. 14, 2025
Smart TVs are chock-full of features that enhance your viewing experience ... Unfortunately, smart TVs don't have built-in antennas for broadcast TV. .... So why have the antennas which were once found in older analog TVs, disappeared ... ..
Why smart TVs don't have built-in antennas
There was a time when TVs came with antennas. Most portable and smaller CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TVs featured V-shaped dipole or single, retractable monopole antennas, which were used to receive VHF (Very High Frequency) channels. The analog broadcast signal was quite forgiving and easy to pick up in metropolitan areas. However, as TVs became thinner, it became tricky to include telescopic antennas without compromising on the aesthetics or picture quality.
Read More: https://www.bgr.com/2037568/do-smart-tvs-have-built-in-antenna/
Did you catch it? Notice what's wrong?
Here's the thing for those to young to remember: TVs generally never came with built-in tv antennas.. there were some exceptions, like with some very portable counter top models, but generally, they never came with built-in antennas, you had to attach your own antennas to the VHF and UHF connection screws on the back of the TV, it could be rabbit ears, or a coat hanger, or a straight wire.. Back then you had to attach your own antenna just like you do today. -Theres no difference between then and now with OTA antennas.
Oh, also there would be nothing "tricky" about including a built-in antenna on today's "thinner" TV at all, absolutely nothing, it's just that nowadays most people are so internet dependent and watch even their own local channels via streaming, so they intentionally manufactured without including it, it has nothing to do with how skinny the TV is.