Forget Coupons — Are There Enough DTV Converters? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com: Via Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
Two weeks before the country was supposed to shut off its analog television broadcasts, there is a shortage of converter boxes that people need to get over-the-air digital television.
Michael Petricone, the senior vice president for government affairs at the Consumer Electronics Association, told the Federal Communication Commission Thursday that three million to six million converter boxes are in the pipeline and available to be sold, according to an account in Broadcasting & Cable.
Many of these converters will be purchased with $40 coupons provided by the government. At the current rate of coupon redemption, 115,000 per day, plus sales without coupons, that means the current stock of converters could be sold out by the end of this month.
Mr. Petricone told the commission that production was starting up again in Asia, and new shipments of converters will hit the stores in April.
As you may remember, Congress didn’t allocate enough money for the coupons, so there has been a waiting list building since December. New coupons are mailed out only when old ones expire unused. So there are now requests for 3.7 million coupons on hold.
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