Advertisement Federal officials say it will take four weeks to receive a coupon once it is requested. However, some people wait for at least six weeks, and some people wait even longer. Many across the country have complained it has been months and when they complain, they are told there was no record of their request.
The coupons are issued on a first-come first-served basis and will only be issued until March 2009 or until funds run out.
In addition to coupon delays, stores have little or no inventory of government-approved converter boxes. By the time the inventory arrives, the coupons might even have expired (they’re only good for 90 days).
Gary Fischer of Onalaska has been waiting six weeks, and he’s not sure where he will find a converter box once he does get the coupon. “A number of years ago, my wife and I sold a larger TV prior to moving, thinking we would get a newer/smaller TV when we settled into our new home,” Fischer said. “We were busy with other things, such as a new business, etc., and we did not get around to purchasing a TV for about three years.”
He said he wouldn’t be too disappointed to be without TV for a while if he has to wait.
Bee and Walter Balmer of West Salem have put off requesting a coupon. They don’t watch much TV but they do enjoy some of the public TV programming they are getting on their old analog set. They hadn’t requested the coupons yet because they thought they’d be moving into senior housing.
“We thought we’d be moving to an apartment complex where they have cable,” Bee said. “We just decided we were going to stay in our home where we’ve been for 60 years. So now I’ve got to get this coupon ordered. I was hoping I wouldn’t have too many problems getting (the box).”
On Feb. 17, 2009, almost all television broadcasts in the country will be transmitted over digital signals. After Sept. 11, 2001, the government realized emergency agencies did not have enough broadcast frequencies to communicate with one another. They decided to clear all the analog stations to open up more transmission frequencies to local, state and national emergency agencies.
To lessen the financial impact to citizens, they decided to offer coupons, two per household, for the converter boxes that will be required for older model TVs. The boxes cost $48 or more, depending on the model. The coupons are only good for government-approved converter boxes and are redeemable for 90 days after the mailing date.
Stores are scrambling to keep the TV converter boxes in stock. Government statistics show only 34 percent of coupons that were mailed have been redeemed, mostly because there is a shortage of supply. Largely because of this shortage, 21 percent of coupons have expired while the holder waited for shipments.
Making things even more complicated is there are two types of converter boxes. One is called a ‘pass through’ which will allow users to watch their old analog channels that are not required to convert to digital (such as channels 44 and 67 in the La Crosse area) as well as the newly available digital channels. The other type will only accept digital signals, so users would not be able to watch those analog stations.
The pass-through boxes are the most popular, yet only 30 percent of the government approved boxes are pass-through models.
Wettstein’s in La Crosse has been having a difficult time keeping enough in stock to satisfy demand. In mid May the company ordered 600 of them and two months later learned it would only get 160, and those weren’t in on July 17.
“Order your coupons now,” said Wettstein’s sales manager Bruce Swanwick. “If you can get a box, buy it! We’ve got a call list with 160 names; that’s for people who have the coupons. We can’t hold them or reserve them for the people, but we will call them when a shipment comes in. Some of those coupons will expire before the shipment comes in.”
He said his very first shipment included only 12 boxes and he sold them within 30 minutes. “We can’t bring them in fast enough,” he said.
Sue Francis, the sales manager for Midwest TV and Appliance in Onalaska, said demand was higher than everyone anticipated. Midwest sells about 50 a day. “We run short on the pass-through converters, but we can still get them,” Francis said. “We haven’t had to turn anyone away.
“Everyone is surprised by how strong the demand is,” Francis said. “I always thought it would be high because of the rural area.”
Nationally, the shortage of coupons and boxes has affected mostly the elderly because they are least likely to have newer TVs, and rural areas including parts of western Wisconsin. That’s not to say metropolitan areas have it any easier, but there is a lot more difficulty experienced in rural areas.
Swanwick agreed. “I don’t think any retailer had any idea of the impact of this,” he said. He talked about a meeting recently held in La Crosse sponsored by WKBT-TV, which said approximately 24 percent of Wisconsin homes need a converter box. Most of that will be in the rural areas, he said.
Best Buy sells about 140 a day. They are selling the RCA Digital converter, which is not a pass-through converter. “We have quite a few in stock right now, enough to last about a day and a half,” the sales manager said. “But after these are gone, it’ll probably be a while before we get some more in.” They are ordering about 300 at a time.
As of Tuesday last week, Radio Shack in the Valley View mall had four (all pass-through). They said they get about 25 in per week and sell them all.
The government has provided initial funding of $890 million and an additional $450 million in contingent funding. So far, almost $700 million has been spent.
As of June 22, the government received an average of 112,000 coupon requests per day over the previous 30 days. More than 21 million requests for coupons were received and more than 19 million were mailed. More than 6 million coupons have been redeemed.
Who needs a digital TV converter box?
People who already have cable, a satellite dish or a newer TV with a digital tuner do not have to worry about the conversion.
According to the government Web site, dtv2009.gov, almost every TV purchased before 1998 is analog and will need a converter box. TVs purchased between 1998 and 2004 might have a digital tuner, but usually those were the big screen (42-inch) TVs. Starting in 2004, many TVs sold featured digital tuners that might work.
Even some of the newer TV sets are purely display monitors that lack the internal circuitry needed to pick up digital broadcasts. Usually these sets have been advertised as HD-ready or HDTV monitor sets. That means they can display digital and high-definition signals, but they need help getting those signals in the first place. Those will still need a special converter or a cable TV connection.”
For those with vehicles such as conversion vans that are equipped with TVs, check with the manufacturer or car dealer to find out what is needed. Battery-operated portable TVs such as the kind taken to the beach, a picnic or a ball game will need converter boxes.
Some low-powered transmission channels will still be available; they are not required to transfer to digital. There are two such stations in the La Crosse area, Station W44BF (channel 44) and Station W67CH (channel 67) will not be required to be digital and can still broadcast on analog TVs.
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