Feds: 500,000 Ask For Digital TV Coupons
The total reflects activity in the first 40 hours.
By Swanni
The feds on Tuesday began taking applications for the $40 coupons.
On February 17, 2009, broadcasters will be required by law to switch from analog to digital signals. Viewers then will need a Digital TV, a pay TV subscription or a Digital TV converter box to watch television.
To ease the transition, the federal government has allocated $1.5 billion to issue two $40 converter box coupons to any American who requests them.
The converter boxes, which are expected to cost around $60, will allow old analog TVs to display the new digital signals.
Broadcasting & Cable Magazine reports that almost all people requesting the $40 coupons are asking for two each. However, there is no information on who is asking for the coupons and whether they are in the group most likely to need them.
Low income and elderly residents, groups most likely to get their TV signals via antennas, are considered to be most in need of the converters. However, the coupons are available to all Americans for now.
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration told B&C that roughly one million coupons have been requested thus far.
The coupons will be mailed on February 17 when retailers are expected to begin carrying the converter boxes.
Comment on this article!
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Click
TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni
Sez.
©
TVPredictions.com
____________________________________________
Swanni (Phillip Swann) is
president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in
dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox
News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The
Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The
Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at
swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
Click
TVPredictions.com
to read more news and features on TV
technology.