Out of Coupons

Due to the fact that the Congress failed in providing enough coupons for the converter box needed for the switch to digital signals, the Consumers Union asked for the delay of the national transition to this kind of transmission. The switch was scheduled to take place next month, but the waiting list for consumers who asked for a $40 coupon to stand for the cost of a converter box has started to be filled this Sunday.

The House of Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, sent a letter last night to President Bush and to President-elect Barack Obama, through which the consumer advocacy group asked the Congress to postpone the transition to digital cable until they remake the plan, by minimizing the number of consumers who will lose their TV signals.

The program cost billions of dollars, but it wasn’t enough to provide the necessary support for every consumer. Meredith Atwell Baker, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency within the Commerce Department that runs the coupon program, said that 7.2 million coupons were asked in December and the agency was expecting only 4 million to be requested.

The television sets which get the signals through “rabbit ears” or rooftop antennas will now need the converter box as to catch the TV signals after February 17, when the full-power television stations will move only to digital broadcast.

These boxes are available to be bought, but the Congress allocated 1.34 billion to provide coupons to offset the price, regarding the fact that such a converter box cost from $50 to $80 in stores like Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

The lawmakers are now looking for solutions to this problem and are trying to figure out what to do as to make sure consumers will get the coupons they need, in time. Daniel Reilly, a spokesman for Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet, stated that the time to do this is short and the wisest decision would be to postpone the date.

The consumers who have a newer digital TV or those who submit to cable or satellite service won’t lose their programming due to this. In addition, the consumer groups stated that the NTIA should have been ready for a bigger demand for coupons. The consumer accused the agency of the fact that they didn’t notify the Congress about the lack of coupons.

The switch to digital signals will also imply the free wireless airwaves, as for public safety and advanced mobile services. The auction for the analog airwaves got $19 million for the government last year. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an arm of the Commerce Department was blamed for releasing the coupons which expire after 90 days.