Washington (DC) - Owners of analog TV sets will be able to submit requests next month for a coupon for $40 off a digital converter box, which will be available at over 100 certified retailers.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has announced some details of how the coupon program will work.  Starting January 1, 2008, users will be able to visit DTV2009.gov, a site that is currently inactive, to request two coupons each valid for $40 off a converter box.

The program will run through March 31, 2009.  On February 17, 2009, all broadcasters will be forced to turn off analog TV signals making old-school antennas worthless.  Estimates of the number of households still relying on the old reception technology range from 13 million to 21 million.

The FCC says over 100 retail chains have been "certified" to sell the boxes, including Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Target, Sears, and Radio Shack.

"We have nationwide coverage with over 14,000 brick and mortar stores involved as well as with online participation," said Meredith Baker, an administrator at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration who is overseeing the program.

LG and Magnavox are two of the first companies to receive government approval for their digital converter boxes.  They are expected to be priced at around $40 - $60.  The government has set aside $1.5 billion to accommodate the cost of the coupons.

Despite early talks to limit the coupons to low-income households, the government will send out a $40 off voucher to anyone with a TV that will be affected by the digital conversion.

Several groups, including local representatives, governmental agencies and broadcasters, fear there is a large chance of widespread confusion and frustration when the switch-over occurs in 2009.  They are encouraging companies and organizations involved to better educate consumers on exactly what will happen and who actually needs a converter box.  Some media announcements give a false impression that consumers will need an HDTV, when all that is needed is a digital tuner or digital cable.  Many retailers including Best Buy have already begun selling only TVs with digital tuners.

"What we're doing is what Congress has told us to do and we're on target," said Baker.

Switch to digital NOW!

Dec 12, 2007 11:58     

Jeeze... come on! We are supposed to be a high tech country, trash the rabbit ears already!!!
RockHop report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

"antennas worthless" you are dead wrong

Dec 12, 2007 12:38     

What the hack are you talking "old-school antennas worthless" TV yes but not antennas! Go back to drawing board!
Jozef report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Switching is not that easy for some...

Dec 12, 2007 13:21     

My grandmother, for example, doesn't have cable and lives in a rural area. I wouldn't want her to pay hundreds of dollars for a digital TV on her fixed income, especially when her (albeit old) TV's work fine. She didn't even know about the switch until I told her. This is a big deal for low-income and rural families.
JCHoefer report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

You'll still need...

Dec 12, 2007 13:23     

...those rabbit ears for ATSC...
rocky1 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Still lots of people don't know about the switch

Dec 12, 2007 13:41     

80% of my friends and coworkers did not know about the changeover. IMO this is going to cause a problem unless the cable companies keep pushing analog down the wire or force boxes on us all before the cut over.
cougar1701 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Relax!

Dec 12, 2007 14:42     

Antennas are fine, you'll just need a $50 converter - the government basically covers this cost with this rebate! No one should really complain. If you have a cable/satellite service there's even less reason to worry. If/when providers eventually cancel their analog service, you'll just need to swap your box and subscribe to digital service which is better anyway. Providers often provide a discounted monthly price (typically for a year) on digital service in order to persuade customers to switch to digital. Digital is long overdue. An added benefit of the switch is that the bandwidth wasted carrying redundant analog signal can now be reclaimed for more HD content, VOIP and internet speed. Hurray!

Greg report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Will there be enough?

Dec 12, 2007 14:51     

There are a limitted number of coupons, and most likely they'll get claimed by techie types first before the people who will really need them in a year catch on. I for one, intend to claim at least one coupon and probably two. I have an HDTV, but I also have my older TV and I will want to keep using it. And I want to have an extra converter box so I can give it my mom. (It's easier than telling her that she needs to jump through these hoops).

Glenn report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Converter box: Digital in - Analog out. Relax.

Dec 12, 2007 16:20     

'Techie types' don't want these coupons. We all switched to digital a long time ago.
Brett report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

rabbit ear works fine on my sony hdtv for over the ...

Dec 12, 2007 17:39     

rabbit ear works fine on my sony hdtv for over the airhd signal. There is no different on the antennas. If you purchase a HD version, you are a sucker of scam from the antenna makers. As for the rebate, is it one per household? I have like tons of TV...do I get one for each? if not, it's not fair for me to have one room's tv working and ther other don't.
andy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Wondering

Dec 12, 2007 18:32     

I live in a mountainous rural area. No cable available. Satelite is also a no go. I'm not cutting down several 250-350- year old trees to get signal for dish network. And Direct tv goes out every time it rains hard or thunderstorms. I use a 13 feet long VHF antenna and a 5 feet parrabolic UHF antenna with a 45db gain booster for tv. Im just behind a mountain. Will i no longer be able to get reception?

rickc report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

These boxes will only be needed by people who recei...

Dec 12, 2007 19:26     

These boxes will only be needed by people who receive their programing over the air. Anyone with cable, Sat, Fios, etc, will only need to use the box that the provider gives you. The same type of box Comcast already uses for digital cable customers. I will need to get one for the TV in my conversion van, but not for any of the "old school" analog tv's and computer tv tuner cards I have hooked up to cable. Wow, I just realized that almost all portable tv's will be useless because no one will carry around a converter box with them.

Erik report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Poor and rural

Dec 14, 2007 16:10     

Historically, FCC has ignored rural and poor areas. The days of "Public Interest, Convenience or Necessity" (PICON) are long gone, and the Commission now serves the interests of the moneyed and powerful. Those of us in rural areas who depend on the free, over the air broadcasting which was mandated under Former FCC Chairman Newton "Television is a vast wastland..." Minnow will have to acquire new antennas for the new frequencies our local stations have will been forced to migrate to. The current VHF low channels (2-6) and UHF channels 52-59 will be auctioned off to the highest bidder (providing a one-time booster shot to lower the Federal deficit -- just in time for elections), and the new table of allocations, predomininantly UHF, will rule the day. Unfortuinately, UHF is not too good coverage wise, even in urban areas. In rural and mountainous areas, it is pretty much useless. Even with bird-killing megawatts of power the coverage range is limited compared to the VHF low channels it claims to replace. Additionally, FCC is underfunded for the voucher program, which is estimated to have an actual cost of $900 million, and is only funded to $100 million at this time. The US plan of free television broadcasting over the public airwaves was once a shining beacon to the world of the "right way" to do things. Unfortunately, corporate greed and corruption have taken over, and the public airwaves have been hijacked to become "private property". Watch for encrypted pay-tv "service" to be broadcast over the public airwaves in the near future. If you're making $100K plus a year, this means nothing to you, but if you are working full time at minimum wage to support a family, the roughly $16K before taxes just doesn't allow for $100 per month for cable or satellite. The biggest impact of this government mandate will be felt by the poor and the elderly.

W3BC report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

The article comment "making old-school antennas wor...

Jan 10, 2008 12:58     

The article comment "making old-school antennas worthless" is incorrect and simply adds to the confusion of the public. The television broadcast frequencies for a station may change during the switchover from analog to digital, but the new frequency falls within the same television RF frequency band that was used by the analog broadcasts. The antenna is designed for the RF band it is receiving, not the modulated content. The type of antenna used does not change. What does change is the type of receiver used to demodulate the broadcast RF signal. An analogy is the marketing of "digital ready" headphones. Headphones are analog devices and are the same whether the media source was analog or digital. Likewise the marketing of "digital, DTV, or ATSC antennas" is a gimmick.

GregZ report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Current Set Top Boxes are Inadequate for recording

Feb 24, 2008 20:55     

People will really be frustrated if they ever use a DVD recorder or VCR. Where is a set top box that will go to the same channel at the same time every week so you can set the VCR to record from Line In, or Channel 3/4?
Frustrated report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0