Digital TV Converter Coupons In Short Supply

U.S. consumers who wait too long to request government coupons to subsidize converter boxes for the digital television transition in February may come up empty-handed, a regulator has warned.

Due to a last-minute rush of coupon requests, demand may exceed supply in the coming month, said the Department of Commerce official overseeing the subsidy program.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[odyssey58]

This whole DTV business has been a fiasco. And they're only giving half of the story. Your antenna may be useless if your local stations are switching from UHF to VHF or vice versa and you have the wrong antenna. How much have you heard about that? You have to really dig to find that out. That could be why converter boxes don't seem to be working. They should have been giving info about antennas all along. The gov't has really f*ck#d it up big time.

[loki]

I hope they are better than the converters they were selling 8 months ago. Those just dont work. I do not know one person who used the coupons and still didnt have to pay $20 or more extra, and I dont know anyone who has got them to work very well, They are not very well made.

[lglglg]

I have worked in the media and the computer industries, and if I say so myself, I'm fairly technical adept. I installed my DTV-to-analog box last week, and only about half of the channels are working properly...fortunately for me, the two Boston-ara PBS stations are among them. By mid-February, hundreds of thousands, if not a million people will be totally frustrated when they try to get their boxes to work!

[curiousasheck]

Oh my God what will I do if I can't rot in front of my TV?

[LeeCalif]

This is propaganda.

[rowzeer]

This program is a JOKE!!! I got a coupon for myself and my father and then found that every time we went to the store to buy one they were out. When one local store finally got some in it was too late our coupons had expired. You can't request additional coupons. A friend never even received hers and she was not allowed to request additional ones. This is the worst government run program and that's saying something

[RobinLandseadel]

I'd say FEMA is worse.

Just imagine: several months without Tubal Propaganda.

You should consider yourself blessed.

[gerimd]

Even with the converter box I still need to get a new, high-powered antenna -- rabbit ears are useless. And, my tv has a bult-in VCR, which I won't be able to program after Feb. because I whenever I turn on the converter box it defaults to channel 2.

I don't know what people will do who have a separate VCR or DVR. Will they need 2 separate converter boxes?