Old TV aerial lead - can I remove it?

[Mosaic]

I'm intrigued as to whether all these old TV aerials up on roofs now perform any function. In addition, like many houses of a certain age, some genius made a huge hole through by the window frame in the living room to let the aerial in, and old owners have then coated the aerial cable in a variety of colourful gloss and emulsion paints to make it 'blend in'.
So in among the great tangle of electronic spaghetti behind the TV there is this painted lead - can I just remove it, cut it off and seal up the hole in the wall?

And all these old aerials - is that a small fortune in scrap metal awaiting our kindly travelling collectors whose only downside is lightfingeredness?

[Graham-W]

If you use your TV for terrestrial transmissions (freeview) you still need your ariel. If yo get your TV from a Sky dish or via the internet, you no longer need the ariel.
If in doubt, unplug it from your TV and see if you still get all the channels.

[Mosaic]

Thanks Graham!