In January, the US Government postponed the mandatory DTV transition from February until June 12th, as it was clear that over 6 million households were not ready.
Today, the federal Department of Commerce has said that if you are still unready and have not applied for a converter box coupon, you should do so no later than Monday, or risk having no TV signal by the time of the transition.
Every household can receive two $40 coupons to use towards the purchase of converter boxes, and more information about the coupons can be found at 888-DTV-2009 or www.DTV2009.gov.
As of May 10th, Nielsen estimated that there are still 3.3 million households not ready for the transition.
Result for: department of commerce
According to a DTV transition regulator, the government coupons that help subsidize the price of DTV converter boxes are going to be hard to come by soon, and he recommends ordering one now.
Rep. Ed Markey, the Department of Commerce official who oversees the subsidy program, added that he expects demand to exceed supply in the next month before the government mandated transition in February.
Congress may also need to “pass additional funds” for extra coupons.
The mandatory switch to digital signals goes into effect February 17th, 2009.
To learn more about the transition and what you will need if you are still unsure, please read this very helpful guide here at AfterDawn: Preparing for the US DTV Transition
