i wonder how many people cable TV watchers, who won't need the converters, requested the coupon anyway?
Grandpa has dish, but still watches local channels. I watch OTA channels or pre-recorded media. I requested a coupon for him, but he ended up buying a new TV. Don't know if he ever got the coupon. I got a coupon, but also ended up buying a new TV. I'm thinking about donating my old one, right along with the digital tuner so it'll be useful for some more needy family.
I did, because I was paying for it anyway out of my taxes, so they belonged to me.
Actually, the program was funded through the auction of a bit of what's currently the TV spectrum for other purposes like a new emergency net, data services, etc...
I just fully expect them to delay this, instead of just pulling the damn tooth and being done with it. We need that bandwidth for other stuff. Wide area internet would benefit a lot of people.
I'm hoping they don't. At this point the 'problem' won't resolve itself until the change is made. People will always procrastinate. Worst case, toss a little more money at the coupon program from the auction proceeds.
I think there is a fair number of old folks who will be knocked flat by this transition.
Actually, if they simply listen to some of the public service ads being played, it'll tell them everything they need to know.
The other one is a spare for our kids when they leave the nest, and cannot afford cable or dish.
Are you planning on giving them the old TV as well? Any bought in the last couple years should already have the digital tuner in it, even if it's only standard definition.
What they should have been doing is running a crawl periodically at the bottom of over-the-air analog TV stations, saying "If you can see this, you need a converter box".
They've kinda been doing that in my area. Gets a little annoying at times as I AM digital capable - the local FOX station doesn't transmit in digital yet so I watch what I can get.