The House & Senate approved the postponement of the Digital TV transition date from February 17th to June 12th. Nielsen will continue to measure the winter sweeps in March of this year instead of February as that was the initial game plan with the tentative February date. Since May is typically the spring sweeps metering, they are not expecting any alterations to that schedule.
Craig Allison, the general manager for KSHB-TV and KMCI-TV was quoted on their local website saying originally they would go ahead and cut their analog signal on Feb. 17, but they and most of the other broadcast stations in Kansas City have decided to go ahead and wait even though the cost of running the analog signals is extreme and was not part of their business plan for the year.
Will there be enough digital boxes by June? We don’t know. Retailers are said to be running out and production has been increased to meet the demand. The government coupon program had run out of funding for the $40 discount, but more funds are being added. You can go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ to apply for coupons. I went to the site and found this disclaimer, “IMPORTANT: The TV Converter Box Coupon Program has reached its funding ceiling. However, coupon requests from eligible households will be filled as funds from expiring coupons become available. If you would like to apply for a coupon today and are eligible, you will be placed on a waiting list and will receive coupons on a first-come-first-served basis as funds from expiring coupons become available. Coupons will expire within 90 days of the date they are mailed.”
If you have cable or satellite service, you don’t need any type of converter box unless you have TV’s in your home that aren’t connected. In that case, you will need a converter box and will continue to require an antenna that plugs into that digital box.
As a testimony to the boxes, my brother purchased two for his apartment several months ago with the coupons he was sent in the mail. He only ended up spending about $10 for each with the discount. Some of the broadcast channels come in great, but not all of them. He does have a few more channels than he had before and he has a pop-up guide which is cool. It’s a better reception on the channels he gets, but he still has trouble with one or two of his favorite broadcast networks which is disappointing. The promotion of the digital conversion tended to over promise that anyone switching to digital would magically have a great picture and that still depends on the location of the set and the antenna that is being used.
I’d love to hear more about your DTV experiences? Have you switched any of your TV’s over? Did you go out and buy a new HD flat screen that had a digital tuner built in? What are you planning to do with your old TV’s?
