Oh, dear heavens no!!!

And I’m an over-the-air viewer. I requested my coupons the second day they were available for order. I purchased my two boxes within a week of receiving the coupons. They’re not hooked up yet, but they will be by the end of the month, and this year’s tax refund will buy my shiny new digital flat-screen TV.

Authorize more money for more coupons if you must, but PLEASE don’t change the date.

If they wait for everyone to get ready, it will never happen. Perhaps those who have waited will get into gear when they can’t receive a signal. This is technology. Those who won’t accept it will be left behind. Analog signals will be a thing of the past for most applications.

Why delay it? Most people are ready or don’t recieve a signal over the air. For those who aren’t ready, big deal. They will come home and their TV won’t work. OH NO!!! THE HUMANITY!!! WHAT EVER WILL THEY DO!!!

I’ve heard that the government ran out of the $40 off digital TV converter coupons. How can you not delay it if you can’t deliver on your side of the deal?

This is crazy. There should have never been govenrment coupons in the first place. Hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been saved on those idiotic coupons.

I don’t worry about the poor and their TVs. One thing I know for sure is that TVs would be the one thing that the poor WILL pay for. Back in the 80’s you could driver around all the trailers in rual areas and almost every one of them had a huge Satellite dish.

People will go without food or clothes before they go without TV. Any family out there will cough up the money to convert.

Heck, it is only $40. People save that in a week or two now in filling up their gas tanks since gas is only $1.50 instead of $4.00.

This is the type of government program that is stupid. There have been more ads on this then political ads.

I say get rid of the whole thing. Why should the government tell me how to watch TV? I think it was only so they could make money selling the bandwith. So let them pay for the cable or the dish I’m going to have to install. The area I live in does not get a digital signal strong enough to pick up via the box. So my “free” over the air broadcasts will now cost me 50 bucks a month.

I blame misleading information from TV stations, electronics companies, and cable companies for part of the confusion.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say something like one of the following, I could fund my own DTV coupon program:

* I need a DTV box no matter whether my TV has a digital tuner or not. Even that brand new HDTV I got last month for Christmas needs a digital tuner box if I want to get signals off the air.
* I need a converter box, period. Even if I have cable or satellite.
* The government is making Charter turn off its analog cable service, so my cable-ready TV won’t work. I need to pay extra for “digital cable.”

There would be more money left in the coupon fund if people weren’t misled into pulling coupons they didn’t need in order to buy converters they didn’t need.

EMWH has a good point. I’m not sure all of the money has been doled out, but rather all the money is promised via coupons that are sent out, whether or not they were redeemed.

Ron, do you have a rooftop antenna? Getting one installed would cost less than cable service. Besides, you can get just basic cable for cheaper than you quote.

If I were Verizon or one of the other companies that payed billions for the freed-up spectrum, I’d be steaming if I had to delay my plans.

Why is this even a question? The spectrum is going to be sold at auction. I worked at Circuit City 5 years ago when they were talking about this. They were supposed to pull the switch on analog broadcasts on Jan. 1, 2005. That was 4 years ago! I have seen literally thousands of commercials regarding the switch. Yes, I am probably a bit ahead of the curve in terms of CE knowledge, but it’s not like this deadline snuck up on anyone. The only thing I think the government bungled was the expiration date on the coupons. I requested the coupons the first day you could, and I got them before the retail stores got the boxes, so they expired before I had a chance to use them.

Folks, we are living in a digital world, and there’s no going back…….either adapt (buy a big antenna–you’ll be shocked at how much more programming you can get) or subscribe to cable/satellite.

Man we have some real babies in this country… buy the stupid 20 dollar converter box and GROW UP PEOPLE.. How did this country get so helpless for christ sake.. All this panic over something so simple…could you image a REAL EMERGENCY.. How could be survive a real emergency..all this fuss over a stupid converter box.. PLEASE!!! JUST GET ONE AND MOVE ON!!!!