Slew of retailers to carry TV converter boxes; coupon requests open in 2008
Yeah, we pretty much expected every big box retailer known to man to carry these things, but just in case you were worried about locating a TV converter box in preparation for the upcoming cutover, here's some comforting news. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Kmart, RadioShack, Target, Sears and Sam's Club are all on the list to carry equipment necessary for analog TV owners to receive OTA programming after February 2009, and just in case one of the aforementioned giants aren't anywhere near you, around 100 more smaller retailers have been certified to stock 'em. Also of note, you can start the new year off right by reminding your great grandparents (or other family members, too) that they can go on and apply for up to two coupons -- which should arrive around six weeks later -- worth $40 apiece to purchase the required boxes. Or, of course, you could just pick them up a new television this holiday season and be done with it.[Via BroadcastingCable]
Filed under: Industry, Regulatory, Tuners, OTA
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GhostDoggy @ Dec 13th 2007 5:31AM
Along with WealthTV, the FCC should startup a channel and call it WelfareTV for this initiative. I mean, television is a luxury in my book, and catering to po folks for their social entertainment while eating the good life on the welfare checks they get.
Now, I'd never watch either channel because I am working to hard to pay for someone else's moments of indiscretions (kids) in the public school system and paying for my own television technology for the 21st century standard.
T-bone @ Dec 13th 2007 9:43AM
Even if you buy "them" (which includes me as an OTA user only) a new TV, you will still need that converter box for the old analog TV if you expect to sell it for anything. All my family members will be getting the 2 coupons even if we don't use the boxes right away. Will make looking for a good deal on a nice tube TV on craigslist worth it after Christmas.
A 36" Tube in the bathroom for $50...sounds good to me :)
Al @ Jan 1st 2008 2:30PM
Will there be enough converters available for everyone who has a coupon to buy one before the coupons expire in 90 days? That's a lot of boxes in a short period of time if everybody rushes to get the coupons as soon as they are available.
Therese @ Jan 3rd 2008 12:01AM
TV is not a luxury. It is needed in time of emergency, and at the very least, somewhat useful for weather and news. For deaf and very hard of hearing people, it's their emergency lifeline, equivalent to radio for the rest of you. There's gonna be a lot more of us deaf folks as the baby boomers retire. (Walkmans, anyone?) We don't all have hundreds of dollars to spare for a new TV. As for me, I don't see throwing out a perfectly good analog TV that is just the right size for my tiny apartment and nearly brand new, in perfect working order.
Ethan @ Feb 21st 2008 3:47PM
I think that it is important to note that this switch is really vital to the infrastructure of our entire communications period. The fact remains that for cable, and fiber-optic based companies to be able to keep up with the sheer volume of data transfers that are now going on with out building parallel wires (which would be very costly) they needed congress to pass this act so that T.V. stations can compress their signals so that the companies can have more space to have let's say faster internet speeds on bundle packages. Then there's telephone service as well on those same lines. (Despite that I use a cell phone, then have cable internet, and T.V.) It is beneficial on the part of the consumer, because it means clearer picture, and faster internet speeds, because more space will be available. In essence what I'm saying is that as of this moment in time (2/18/08) what we have is a very busy service road, that is congested, and has many traffic lights. What congress is doing is giving us a highway to clear all the crap up.