LOWER POTTSGROVE PA – If you needed, but didn’t yet buy, a converter box to receive digital television signals on your analog TV set, there’s no rush now.
Digital converter boxes on sale last week at Wal-Mart in Pottstown PA.
The much-promoted, federally mandated switch of the nation’s television stations from over-the-air to digital broadcasting was scheduled to occur at midnight tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009). It’s since been delayed until June 12 (2009) by Congress, which decided the $40-to-$60 cost of each box in homes with sets requiring them might be too much for consumers to bear in the current recession.
Customers with cable or satellite television service are not affected by the transmission switch. However, people who rely on set-top “rabbit ears” or an outside antenna atop their roofs would have lost all their TV channels by Wednesday morning (Feb. 18, 2009) without a converter box.
About a third of all full-power stations across the country have either already turned off their analog signal or applied to convert tonight, according to The Associated Press (AP).
Of 21 stations broadcasting from the Greater Philadelphia area, which might be received on TVs in Lower Pottsgrove, only three will end their analog broadcasts this evening, the Federal Communications Commission said. They are WTVE in Reading PA, WMGM in Wildwood NJ, and WMCN in Atlantic City NJ. The rest will wait until June.
Congress passed the law requiring the conversion in 2005. The change is intended to free up space in the nation’s airwaves for commercial wireless services and emergency-response networks. Digital broadcasts are also more efficient.
As part of the law, Congress also set up a fund that allowed each household two dated coupons for up to $80 in combined discounts on the purchase of two converter boxes. The fund ran out of money more than a month ago, but The AP reported around 100,000 coupons a day are still being mailed out as older coupons expire unused. Currently, it said, there’s a wait list of 4 million coupons.
Coupons are being distributed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. It hopes to receive additional funding for the converter box rebate program when President Obama signs the national economic stimulus bill into law later today.
- AARP on Feb. 19 (2009) announced it was operating a national DTV call center its members can call through March 31 for personal assistance in transitioning from analog to digital television. For help, call toll-free 877-698-8068.
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[...] No TV Converter Box? No Problem Lower Pottsgrove residents who own analog television sets might have feared today’s arrival, when broadcasters were to have switched to digital signals. Now the change has been delayed. [...]
[...] No TV Converter Box? No Problem Lower Pottsgrove residents who own analog television sets might have feared today’s arrival, when broadcasters were to have switched to digital signals. Now the change has been delayed. [...]