Digital TV converter coupons: Who gets them and how much?
There's been a lot of concern over the upcoming digital broadcast conversion and how it will affect those who currently get TV via over-the-air broadcast and haven't upgraded to sets with digital tuners. Under the proposal recently submitted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, only homes that do not have cable or satellite TV currently would be eligible for coupons to reduce the price of two boxes by $40 each. That might not seem fair to people who have say, one cable TV and that one TV in the basement/attic that you could always use to watch the game on Sunday if need be. Luckily if you disagree with the proposal -- which you can read in its entirety here -- they are inviting public comment.Check out the FAQ for info on how to make your voice heard, much like us they will publish your comments on the website for all to see. Sort of makes you wonder why the government doesn't just start up a blog for this kind of thing.
Filed under: Regulatory, Cable, OTA, Satellite
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Charles @ Jul 26th 2006 1:45PM
I've already sent a similar comment to the FCC comment email - so call me crazy but:
1. Since when did TV (of any form) become a government subsudized right instead of a priviledge in this country? Last time I checked you could run down to your local Worst Buy and get a digital TV for less than $300. That's roughly 3 times more than what these coupons would allow for - I have to personally think that if you can't afford even a modest digital TV that maybe you shouldn'nt be spending so much time in front of an analog TV (sorry, a bit hard nose I know).
2. With all of our budget issues (republicans and democrats are equally guilty here), do we really need to be spending $1,500,000,000 on a non-essential communication protocol? Where else can we realistically use that money? Education? Healthcare reform? Social Security reform? The list is rather long.
Just my two cents...
William C Bonner @ Jul 27th 2006 4:19PM
What I'll be most interested in is to see if there's an inexpensive digital set top box that gets released sometime in the next year or two.
Now that new TVs have the ATSC tuner built in, it seems harder and harder for me to find a set top box to go with my HDTV ready TV. The ones that I can find all seem to be in the $200+ price range. If I can just get a new TV with the tuner built in for that price, I'm more likely to do that.
This just brings up the next stage. I'd rather that the government stepped up to help us poor slobs get rid of our old electronics without a surreptitious trip to a neighborhood dumpster, or without paying outrageous fees.