Congress adds $650,000,000 for DTV conversion to Stimulus Bill

An economic stimulus bill now includes $650 million in additional funding for the DTV program. This bill is expected to pass in congress next month.

We will provide updates as they become available.

Analog Emergency Broadcasts to be extended

Due the the number of households that may not be able to make the switch to digital TV in combination with the shortage of DTV coupon funding, the FCC will temporarily allow emergency broadcasts in analog signal for 30 days after the Feburary 17th transistion. Emergency broadcasts will flash in english and spanish across analog screens.

VelocityStore.com stresses the importance of communicating this to households not able to make the transistion in time. Should the emergency broadcast system be needed, we have concerns that households may not know they will still receive emergency notices during this time frame. Based on the number of households still uninformed of the DTV transition, it is reasonable to assume when analog signals cease transmitting on February 17th, households with analog TV's will simply not bother using the TV anymore unless they obtain a converter. In this situation they may also not even attempt to use the analog TV in an emergnecy situation.

We will provide more information as it becomes avaialble.

DTV Coupon Availability Limited

We have confirmed with the National Telecommunication And Information Administration (NTIA) all coupon funding has been depleted. However, this does not mean you cannot still obtain a coupon.

According to NTIA statistics posted on December 31st the redemption rate of coupons is at 52.5%. DTV Coupons expire after 90 days, based on this 47.5% of all coupons mailed will have their value returned to the funding pool. If you have requested coupons you will be put in queue to receive your coupons when funding has been returned.

Please note, the request for coupons has recently more than doubled but coupons will only expire at the rate they were issued 90 days ago. We STRONGLY urge you to request your coupons now if you have not done so already. At this point you are not guaranteed coupons will be available to you.

Approximately 244,000 coupons are being requested each day. 90 days ago approximately 110,000 coupons were requested a day. At the current redemption rate this figured out to be about 52,250 coupons becoming available each day making the demand 4 times greater than the supply.

History Mike