Purchasing a Converter Box

Converter boxes are already available for purchase, but which one is right for you?

A few important things to know before making your purchase:

• If you do not have cable or satellite service, you are eligible for a $40 coupon toward the purchase of your converter box.  Request yours online at www.dtv2009.gov
• You should not need to buy anything other than a converter box to receive digital television stations.
• Converter boxes range in price from $49.99-$79.99 and are available in most electronics departments. The more expensive models do not necessarily mean a better converter box, but one with more features such as parental controls.
• You can find more information on specific converter boxes by visiting manufacturers’ web sites or by calling local retailers.

Why was my coupon application denied?

If you’ve tried to request your digital converter box coupons and your application was denied, here are some reasons why this may have happened:

1. You already requested coupons. DTV hotlines and web sites have taken applications for coupons since January 1, 2008 but many still haven’t received them. Thinking that their coupons are lost, many people try to request them again only to be denied.  This means that the government received your application and the coupons are scheduled for delivery.
2. You gave a P.O. Box as your street address on the application. If you have a P.O. Box you are eligible to receive a coupon, but you must also provide your street address even though you don’t receive mail there.  Reapply giving your street address and using your P.O. Box as your mailing address. 
3. One or more of your TV sets is connected to cable or satellite. Coupons are only available to households with no televisions hooked up to cable or satellite. This is because there is a limited number of coupons to go around, and cable/satellite users will not need a converter box to receive channels. Even if four of your TVs have antennas and only one has cable, the program will not recognize you as eligible.

Where are my coupons?

If you requested your digital converter box coupons all the way back in January and they have not arrived, don’t fret.  Coupons are mailed on a staggered basis, and the first batch didn’t mail until the last week of February.

For those who requested coupons more recently, know that they could take up to 12 weeks to arrive.

An easy way to find out where your coupons are is to log on to http://www.dtv2009.gov and click on “Where’s my coupon?”

You can enter your confirmation number to track your coupons. If you lost or forgot your confirmation number, simply enter your home address to find out where they are.  If you receive a message that says “coupon status not found,” you may need to apply again.

it’s all in the numbers

The number-savvy crew at the U.S. Census Bureau compiled an interesting list of facts and figures for the February 2009 digital transition. Did you know that 98.2% percent of all households have a television set? Or that each household has an average of 2.6 television sets per home? For the complete list of television stats, click here.

Here are a few more figures:

• 10 million: The number of people who have asked the government for the $40 coupons as of April 8, 2008.
• 1,704: The projected average number of hours an individual (12 and older) will spend watching television in 2008. That comes out to 4.7 hours of TV watching per day. In 2000, the average number of hours spent watching TV was 1,502, or 4.1 hours per day.
• 90 days: The number of days after a digital converter box coupon has been mailed before it expires.