Digital TV Converter Coupons Expiring Before They Can Be Used
by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 5:31PM
The government coupon program for digital converter boxes for older television sets is stirring up controversy as the coupons begin to expire before customers can get their hands on one. Stores have had trouble getting the converter boxes in stock, which are necessary to continue watching television over the air on older sets after the analog-to-digital switchover in February 2009.
Congress is complaining loudly about the failure of the program, which was intended to ease the financial pressures on consumers surrounding the switchover. Roughly 8.5 million homes have requested 16 million coupons, but only 3 million have been redeemed so far. Even worse, almost 900,000 have already expired and only 42 percent of those were redeemed.
Congress is looking into issuing new coupons or extending the expiration date, but one thing is for certain -- if almost 60-percent of the coupons are expiring before customers can use them, the government will have a major problem on its hands. [Source: MSNBC]
