NTIA’s 5.6 Million DTV Coupon Backlog to be Eliminated by May

NTIA will mail increasingly larger volumes of coupons and has the capacity to send 900,000 a week, Baker said. “We want to make sure the systems are working and the boxes are on the shelves” before increasing the weekly amount, she added: “We're going to ramp up.” One determinant of how fast vouchers will be handed out is the raw number of consumer electronics stores selling converter boxes, she said. About 9,700 outlets -- including many Best Buy, Circuit City, RadioShack and Wal-Mart locations -- are selling them, she said. Devices are available in every state, with bsat.net the sole online-only retailer now offering them, she said. More than 16,000 stores eventually will stock the boxes, she said.

But those checking on previously requested coupons still will be misinformed if they call 888-DTV-2009 to ask when they'll get them, as our mystery shoppers have found to be the case for several weeks (CD Jan 3 p2). Tuesday, a call taker told one of our staffers that a coupon he ordered Jan. 31 would be “received in two to three weeks.” But Baker told us that someone who recently requested a coupon is unlikely to get one in the first wave of vouchers hitting the U.S. mail this week. The same call taker said: “All the coupons will be going out in two to three weeks. It will be the first mass mailing of the coupons since the boxes are just now available in the stores.” But that’s also incorrect. An NTIA spokesman said he couldn’t comment right away on the discrepancy. Other operators at 888-DTV-2009 previously acknowledged that a recorded greeting that tells all coupon seekers they'll get them in mid- to late February is wrong.

NTIA’s coupon program and all other parts of the DTV transition are going smoothly, CEA President Gary Shapiro said, despite doubts from some on a DTV panel at which he and Baker spoke that there may be may glitches Feb. 17, 2009. “As we get closer people are going to jump up and down and say the sky is falling. And it’s not,” he said. Disruptions to over-the-air TV reception “will be minimal, Andy, stop worrying,” Shapiro told Media Access Project President Andrew Schwartzman, also on the Federal Communications Bar Association panel. “The sky is not falling,” said Schwartzman, but “there are people who are going to experience disruption in a very important service.” Schwartzman worries that those who watch low-power TV stations, which won’t make the switch in 2009, will be left without service because most converter boxes don’t pass through analog signals.

Shapiro sought to ease such concerns: “If we don’t panic it will be fine… What’s the worst that will happen? A few people won’t get TV for a few days.” NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said he’s “somewhere between Gary and Andy on complacency versus panic… Rather than sit around and pat ourselves on the back, we need to continue to learn about the issues [that] keep popping up.” Low-power broadcasters are one such issue, he added. “Low power is sort of the latest ‘oops’ moment.”

Every member of Congress should put information about the transition on their Web site, said NAB President David Rehr. The sites should also link to www.antennaweb.org, started Tuesday by CEA and NAB, added Rehr. Legislators should also talk to their constituents about the transition, said Rehr and other panelists. But Congress shouldn’t change the transition date, Baker said: “Clarity is important.” -- Jonathan Make

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By entering in their zip code on the new site, antennaweb.org, consumers can find out what type of antenna to use to get digital and high definition broadcasts, Shapiro and Rehr told the panel. The transition presents broadcasters with a good opportunity to add over-the-air viewers who want to watch broadcasts in HD without subscribing to a pay service, Shapiro said.

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The DTV Transition Coalition’s membership has surpassed 200, the group said Friday. Current membership in the task force of government agencies and lobbying groups like NAB is 207, Rehr told the panel.