NTIA: DTV Coupon Funds Could Run Out Before Analog Shutoff
National Telecommunications and Information Administration to Congress: Funding for DTV-to-analog converter-box-coupon program could dry up in January.
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/18/2008 3:06:00 PM
| DTV Transition 101: To watch a video guide to the February 2009 analog shutoff, including a step-by-step demo on hooking up a converter box, click here. |
The administration's digital-TV-to-analog converter-box-coupon program could well run out of funds to process those coupons by the end of January unless Congress frees up more money. That would be 17 days short of the DTV-transition date and almost seven weeks short of the March 31 end date for applying for the coupons.
That shortfall could be a problem if there is an anticipated spike of coupon requests from procrastinators as the Feb. 17, 2009, date nears.
That timetable came from acting National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief Meredith Attwell Baker in a letter to Congress (click here to see the full letter). The NTIA is the Department of Commerce agency overseeing the converter-box-subsidy program.
"NTIA has placed orders with IBM to distribute up to 44.5 million coupons," Baker said in the letter. "Assuming steady demand and an increase for the months of November, December and January, as well as a redemption rate consistent with that realized to date [49%], NTIA estimates that the coupon program will be able to honor requests for 44.5 million coupons through the end of January 2009 within existing administrative funds."
She added the caveat that there may be cost savings of up to $6 million that could add several weeks to that end-of-January date.
Baker was responding to a series of questions from House Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), which came after the NTIA last week asked Congress for access to an additional $7 million to issue coupons with money freed up by the fact that only about one-half of the coupons sent out to date were redeemed.
The same pair also asked Baker to outline her plans for dealing with a coupon-request spike beyond asking for more funds.
The legislators also asked why the NTIA did not indicate in a July 25 letter to them -- also related to any potential shortfall of funds -- that the NTIA might ask for more funds. Baker responded Thursday that the NTIA gave Congress as much of a heads-up as it could at the time.
In testimony at a June Energy & Commerce Committee hearing, she wrote, an NTIA witness indicated that “the program currently has limited administrative funds to distribute additional numbers of coupons that might be issued from the return funds.” Baker said the reason why the NTIA could not provide more details in its July 25 letter about what that request might entail was because it was in "procurement-sensitive" negotiations with IBM, which subcontracted the coupon program, on sending out additional coupons and "could not state with certainty that the agency might need additional administrative funds or provide an estimate of the additional amount the coupon program might need."
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For those viewers who have not yet purchased a converter box, Consumer Reports has upgraded their ratings on some of the available converter boxes at:
blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2008/08/ratings-of-dtv.html
Here is a quick summary of a lot of models.
www.consumerreports.org/cro/e...es-ratings.htm
While cable and satellite program providers will continue to serve the great majority of homes as the primary signal source, missing HD local reception, compression issues, higher costs, billing add-ons, service outages, contact difficulties, in-home service waits and no shows have left many of these subscribers looking to OTA antennas as a good, alternative.
But Off-Air FREE TV reception starts with the right antenna.
Viewers should certainly try their old antenna first. It’s true that any of these older antennas will pick up some signals, maybe all the broadcast signals a viewer wants to receive, depending on their location. If they’re getting all the OTA channels they want and some of their local stations aren’t changing from VHF to UHF or UHF to VHF, than they’re good to go.
In order to know if you’ll have the right antenna or combination of antennas, viewers can look up “DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds†at
hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...-06-1082A2.pdf and “Third Round DTV Tentative Channel Designations†at hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...-06-1675A2.pdf to find out from what channels local stations will be broadcasting after the transition. Or go to antennapoint.com for a quick look at a specific city.
While Antennas can’t tell the difference between analog and digital signals, they certainly can between a UHF and VHF antenna and there are definitely certain models which have higher DTV batting averages than others. Not all antennas are equally suited for DTV. A percentage of viewers will require something a little more tailored for DTV reception.
With one of the newer and smaller OTA antennas, with greatly improved performance, power and aesthetics, viewers may also be able to receive out-of-town channels, carrying blacked out sports programs not available locally, several additional sub-channels or network broadcasts. And for those with an HDTV, almost completely uncompressed HD broadcasts (unlike cable or satellite).
And if viewers decide to buy a newer antenna, they should buy it from a source that will completely refund their purchase price, no questions asked, if it doesn’t do the job.
Michael Sherman - 9/19/2008 7:15:00 PM EDT -
Avoid the publicity and embarrassment -- extend the deadline for
analog shut-off until Aug. 31st 2011, the Canadian date. Then quietly
find a better way to do this. Maybe offer a tax break to electronics
mfgrs who offer and fulfill $40 off coupons on their own, without the
need for costly government involvement. Call it "economic stimulus"
for the industry. Give a bigger break to domestic mfgrs. so we're not
just subsidizing China.
And the delay gives the industry time to ensure that antenna-
dependent populations are not disenfranchised.
Do the delay while Congress is still in town. Because if it's not done
now, there will be a crisis in January with just a few days before the
shut-off date.
Do this now or live to reget it!
Adam Smith - 9/19/2008 12:57:00 AM EDT
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