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story category DTV Coupon Program Back On Track
Saving millions of Americans from having to read books...
(old news - 11:10AM Friday Mar 06 2009)
tags: legal · Video · fcc · business · wireless · cable · content
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President Obama recently urged Congress to delay the February 17 digital TV transition, after the government's program to subsidize digital converters ran out of money, forcing those interested in digital transition coupons to sign onto a waiting list. Conrgess listened, delaying the official transition until June, though several hundred broadcasters made the switch anyway -- without incident. It now looks like the DTV coupon program is back on track. Everybody who signed up for a coupon should have them in the next few weeks, thanks to the addition of $650 million more in funds to the existing $1.3 billion assigned to the project.


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Forums » DTV Coupon Program Back On Track
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spamd
Premium
join:2001-04-22
Rockford, IL

$650 Million Dollars is a lot of money.

For a DTV converter box. Well at least someone is getting rich.
--
When everything is coming your way, you are in the wrong lane.
nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
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Re: $650 Million Dollars is a lot of money.

$1.3 Billion is even more money.

Excuse my language, but why the F*** are OUR tax dollars being abused for something like this? if people want DTV converter boxes buy them out of your OWN damn money.

I swear Obama is going to run this country into the ground financially. Get ready for four fun years of tax increases across the board. "But people, it's the economy!"... yeah right.

mustang03282

join:2003-01-10
Bridgeton, NJ
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS

Re: $650 Million Dollars is a lot of money.

said by nitzan See Profile :

$1.3 Billion is even more money.

Excuse my language, but why the F*** are OUR tax dollars being abused for something like this? if people want DTV converter boxes buy them out of your OWN damn money.

I swear Obama is going to run this country into the ground financially. Get ready for four fun years of tax increases across the board. "But people, it's the economy!"... yeah right.
If the government is making all this money selling off the bands we use for watching tv why should we have to pay to upgrade our tv's
nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
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·Comcast

Re: $650 Million Dollars is a lot of money.

said by mustang03282 See Profile :

If the government is making all this money selling off the bands we use for watching tv why should we have to pay to upgrade our tv's
See, that's yet another problem- the government auctions thoses bands for billions of dollars, and WE have to pay the price. With this system there is virtually NO competition on the cellular level, which is why prices are so high.

Taxes in this country have gone way out of control. The government auctioning off the bands is just another form of tax which WE have to pay - not the cell companies.
jam_bongo

join:2002-07-17
Toronto, ON
The conversion box coupon program was started up and distributing coupons long before the Obama administration was elected.
nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
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Re: $650 Million Dollars is a lot of money.

said by jam_bongo See Profile :

The conversion box coupon program was started up and distributing coupons long before the Obama administration was elected.
True, but he apparently doubled the size of the program by adding $650mil to it.
jam_bongo

join:2002-07-17
Toronto, ON

Re: $650 Million Dollars is a lot of money.

the original program had a $1.34 billion spending cap, adding 650$ is not exactly double
travelguy

join:1999-09-03
Santa Fe, NM

Of course...

That didn't stop one of the administration supporting national TV networks from running a story on their evening news where the poor nursing home volunteer couldn't pick up any channels and residents were forced to play cards all afternoon instead of watching Judge Judy. They casually mentioned that the TV was working a few hours later when they hooked their box up correctly.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Re: Of course...

Somewhere lost in all of the news coverage is that this is TELEVSION, not an IV drip being delivered to a dying cancer patient.

This country could stand a few days away from the TV.
jester121

join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL

Re: Of course...

It's okay, most of the members here at BBR think that an internet outage qualifies as a human rights violation.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Re: Of course...

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.

kataan
RIP my love.
Premium
join:2003-04-22
Greenacres, WA

Re: Of course...

TV, ok I can live with that (It's crap anyway), but the NOT the Internet I will die!!!

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
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Re: Of course...

said by kataan See Profile :

TV, ok I can live with that (It's crap anyway), but the NOT the Internet I will die!!!
The internet is full of much more nonsense than TV. I'd rather sit in front of the TV than burn my brain online.

Jigsaw
Stardust We Are
Premium
join:2000-10-21
Cleveland, OH
·Cox HSI

Re: Of course...

said by Eat Me See Profile :

said by kataan See Profile :

TV, ok I can live with that (It's crap anyway), but the NOT the Internet I will die!!!
The internet is full of much more nonsense than TV. I'd rather sit in front of the TV than burn my brain online.
Do what i do and just do Both.
--
"It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."-George Carlin
jjeffeory

join:2002-12-04
USA
I pay my bills on the internet. I burn my brain with TV. I do both, and it is my choice.
JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
Look for declaration of Marshal Law if that ever occurs. Face Book riots,Itunes Brawl, American Idol mob violence etc..Suicide hotline melts down and news headline from Jan/Feb 2010- Hospitals overflowing with births

Not a pretty site.

Hall
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said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.
You may want to discuss that with Justin in regards to ad revenue...

morbo
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said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.
was summer the time when people didn't watch tv? it was all re-runs except for news.
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.
I'd actually rather see April be a "no one pay your taxes" month and starve this government into submission.

They're simply all getting out of hand... there seems to really be NOTHING that resembles a politician actually representing the people any more.. It would be nice to send a clear message that the people DO have the power in this country still.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Host:
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Re: Of course...

They're simply all getting out of hand... there seems to really be NOTHING that resembles a politician actually representing the people any more.. It would be nice to send a clear message that the people DO have the power in this country still.
Unless they have money, they don't.

h7

@charter.com

said by fiberguy See Profile :

said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.
I'd actually rather see April be a "no one pay your taxes" month and starve this government into submission.

They're simply all getting out of hand... there seems to really be NOTHING that resembles a politician actually representing the people any more.. It would be nice to send a clear message that the people DO have the power in this country still.
what; we don't.. i thought they made that pretty clear by now... :P

h#7

exocet_cm
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said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.
No way man! Are you nuts?

Jigsaw
Stardust We Are
Premium
join:2000-10-21
Cleveland, OH
·Cox HSI

said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH1ekuvSYzE

--
"It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."-George Carlin

aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast

Re: Of course...

said by Jigsaw See Profile :

said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Lets make April "Nobody use the Internet or watch TV" month and see what happens.
(youtube clip)
What was that about??
dishrich

join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL
Probably the same kind of people that consider sleeping with their crackberry's MORE important than sleeping with their mates - really a sad commentary...

Matt
Gone playing Dragon Age Origins
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Jamestown, NC
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said by Karl Bode See Profile :

Somewhere lost in all of the news coverage is that this is TELEVSION, not an IV drip being delivered to a dying cancer patient.

This country could stand a few days away from the TV.
I agree with the idea that people need to get out more, but TV is critical to the Emergency Broadcast System. How many times have you caught an EBS alert on broadcast radio lately?
Austinloop

join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX

Re: Of course...

Difficult to catch it on radio, I don't listen to radio at home, there are various mediums which provide music without commercials and inane disk jockey talk, such as IPOD, CD's, etc.

When in the car, I listen to satellite radio, and no EBS on that either.

aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast

Re: Of course...

said by Austinloop See Profile :

Difficult to catch it on radio, I don't listen to radio at home, there are various mediums which provide music without commercials and inane disk jockey talk, such as IPOD, CD's, etc.

When in the car, I listen to satellite radio, and no EBS on that either.
I catch it on radio more often than TV.
Austinloop

join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX

Re: Of course...

I try my dead level best to never listen to terrestrial radio. I hate commercials with a passion.

CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

1 edit
In Ohio's spring a local TV station offers free NWS radios and after those are gone hey offer them for $20 or $40. Radio Shack sells them year round and they run on batteries.

not a difficult thing to do in the end.
jjeffeory

join:2002-12-04
USA
Actually, I've heard alerts on both recently. Maybe SoCal is better than Jamestown for doing this?

Good point though! EMS is important.

DaveNJ
No Fear

join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
Panic spend , repeat..

BF69

join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN

Gee who could have predicted this?

Still, about 5 million U.S. households are still "totally unready" and 2.3 million households are waiting for the $40 government coupons, the government said.

"We are ... struggling with the procrastination of seniors who now see the June 12 date and see they have more time to act," said Sandy Markwood, chief of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.


Whaaaaaaaat? You give procrastinators more time and they keep procrastinating? Nooooooo, that can't be true. Surely they saw the delay as a opportunity to get prepared.

»news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090306/med···igitaltv
scottymead

join:2007-07-29
Spokane, WA

Re: Gee who could have predicted this?

I say get with the times and get cable. I know comcast is now offering Digital Basic for FREE at least that is here in Spokane Washington.

BF69

join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN

Re: Gee who could have predicted this?

said by scottymead See Profile :

I say get with the times and get cable. I know comcast is now offering Digital Basic for FREE at least that is here in Spokane Washington.
Actually I was thinking about doing the opposite. Dropping cable and going OTA and online. Get almost all the same programing and save $800 a year.

Oh and not everyone can get cable.

The thing I see happening is that many of those 5 mil still won't get ready because they think come June they'll be another delay.
scottymead

join:2007-07-29
Spokane, WA

Re: Gee who could have predicted this?

people should talk to their cable providers, like I said here in Spokane Washington, comcast is offering limited digital basic cable for free.

tubbynet
reminds me of the danse russe
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said by BF69 See Profile :

Actually I was thinking about doing the opposite. Dropping cable and going OTA and online. Get almost all the same programing and save $800 a year.
i am going to be doing the same thing. moving this weekend. already have the netflix subscription and the roku is on the way. once i get a good look of how the house is constructed on the side where i need to place the antenna, i'm going to be ordering the clearstream2 antenna. additionally, i will be ordering a netbook with hdmi out to watch my hulu and tvuplayer on the tv. dropping $85/month cable bill and only increasing my internet price by about $10+tax. totally worth it now that wifey is onboard

q.

jhacker

join:2001-12-11
Peoria, IL

What about expired coupons?

I wonder if this extension will allow those who allowed their coupons to expire to reapply for them. I know several in that situation.

See 8 replies to this post
ender7074

join:2006-11-21
Saint Louis, MO

Our tax dollars at work...

Aren't you all glad that you get gouged on your taxes so someone can watch their idiot box? Its a brave new world where those of us that work get to start paying the bills of those that don't. Makes me sick...

See 9 replies to this post

AnonNamedMe



Intel Developing DTV Antenna; Coupons Resume

Quote Article - "A few days ago, Intel said that its researchers developed the world's first embedded balanced antenna for digital TV. Although the design is currently patent pending, Intel's "innovation" will enable on-the-go users to receive OTA digital television on their laptop without the need for an external antenna. While the company offered no other specifics, the embedded antenna would alleviate the need to carry or keep track of additional equipment."

»www.tomsguide.com/us/Intel-HDTV-···573.html

tschmidt
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join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
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Re: Intel Developing DTV Antenna; Coupons Resume

First of all there is not such thing as an HDTV antenna. FCC did not change channel allocation with digital.

I'm skeptical of the claim - unless you are very close to the transmitter a itty-bitty antenna, near the ground, is not going to work.

We use a large outdoor antenna with 16 dB of gain 30 feet high and there are several stations we do not receive all the time and we are only 40 miles away. On the other hand there is a station only 10 miles away that comes in even without an antenna.

/tom
gt1racer

join:2008-11-19
Fall River, MA

my take on the DTV travisty

i bet it won't take 3 weeks for the coupon list to vanish, i think it will end up taking until the june 12th deadline for this fiasco to end.

I just want this nightmare to end!

The date (2/17/09) should of never been changed in the first place because now in Massachusetts, Comcast told me Massachusetts residents (other than Boston and Brookline) would have to wait until early July instead of their earlier projection of April for 40 expected new HD channels because of this tragedy of a plan.

I know the DTV has nothing to do with HD but come on, many Comcast Customers have been waiting for HD Channels for at least 2 years now and still haven't gotten any really good ones to watch, 43 Here in Fall River, Ma By the way and looks like i have another waiting game to play until Fios comes to Southeastern New England until at least mid 2012. Finally these "Comcast Promises" like more HD and more HD Choices will come back to bite them in the long run and ultimately show signs that Comcast is not loyal to their own High paying HD customers.
rdmiller

join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA

Re: my take on the DTV travisty

You're right. The HD channel upgrades on cable and the DTV transition for OTA broadcasters are not related to each other, although they are going on at the same time. If cable companies are telling you differently, it is only because their capacity is so constrained, they need to cannibalize the bandwidth used for SD in order to add any more HD channels.

Eat Me

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Sussex, NJ
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Re: my take on the DTV travisty

Basically the cable companies promised they wouldn't shut off their analog until after the DTV transition, so as not to confuse customers.

And by not shutting off their analog they're not able to free up bandwidth for things like more HD and DOCSIS3.

knightmb
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Franklin, TN
·AT&T DSL Service


1 edit

Re: my take on the DTV travisty

said by Eat Me See Profile :

Basically the cable companies promised they wouldn't shut off their analog until after the DTV transition, so as not to confuse customers.

And by not shutting off their analog they're not able to free up bandwidth for things like more HD and DOCSIS3.
But they didn't have to? They could have switched over to DTV anyway on the right date and done what they were going to do. Otherwise, their excuse reeks of "thank goodness we can blame being unprepared on something else". Lacking in details of course.
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dervari

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Re: my take on the DTV travisty

said by knightmb See Profile :

But they didn't have to? They could have switched over to DTV anyway on the right date and done what they were going to do. Otherwise, their excuse reeks of "thank goodness we can blame being unprepared on something else". Lacking in details of course.
I hope they don't for a while. The government is providing converters for free for OTA. Are they going to force the cable companies to provide digital converters for everyone for free? It's not like you can go out and BUY a converter for a one time fee. You're stuck with $10/mo for as long as you have cable.

JammerMan79
Premium,VIP
join:2004-05-13
Prince George, BC

Re: my take on the DTV travisty

you do understand that the digital conversion is ONLY for OTA..... if you pay for your tv then it has nothing to do with you. If your cable company is trying to get you to change to a digital cable box and they're using this as the reason they're full of bull.
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dslwanter
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Oh goodie

Good to see it's on track. So I'm sure they'll find another reason to push the transition up and up and this program will continue to have a need for funding and someone will continue to live large off of it (sorry for the run on)...yahda, yahda, yahda.
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SuperJoker

join:2005-11-21
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Re: Oh goodie

said by dslwanter See Profile :

Good to see it's on track. So I'm sure they'll find another reason to push the transition up and up and this program will continue to have a need for funding and someone will continue to live large off of it (sorry for the run on)...yahda, yahda, yahda.
Somehow I fear If It's been delayed once, It may be delayed again and again too.
danball1976

join:2003-03-24
Wichita Falls, TX

Re: Oh goodie

True, with this administration, they are going to make sure it gets delayed and then delayed again. Eventually they might even stop the transition from fully happening because we can't have those 500,000 people from not watching TV, heh.

Its already been delayed several times from its original 2006 mandate.
tmc8080

join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY

$40 coupon

Little discussed fact: the $40 will not apply to federal, state & local sales tax @ retail. So, there was a returned converter on clearance for $29.99 which used to be $59.99... so it's virtually free, but you have to pay the sales tax.. no biggie $2.59 & I had a $3 credit on a gift card from BB so it evened itself out, virtually free converter--- why wait for Best Buy to file for bankruptcy and lose the credit, right?

I have a digital tv.. but I still have my clunker analog vcr, so if I ever want to record.. instead of ahem.. er, download... I got a box to do so when the NY Metro stations go bye bye.. still $10 credit left on one card.

I may go ahead & buy one online too, what the heck.. the ones they sell at retail are garbage. Can someone please tell PBS, CBS & FOX to increase their transmitter power? those channels freeze & PBS is completely missing.
Forums » DTV Coupon Program Back On Track


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