Digital TV Delayed Until June!

Or just a whole lot of lazy ass people.

Human nature to procrastinate and wait until the last minute.

The coupon program was a disaster. The coupons should have been good for one year and cover the cost of the box.

They do cover the cost of many boxes. But the government can't let you buy whatever you want. There's a $40 cap so you don't go buying the most expensive box on the market and making the government eat the whole cost. What do you think the coupons are? When you redeem the coupon, the retailer gets the $40 from the government rather than you, but somebody pays. It's not out of the goodness of the retailers' hearts. If you want the government to pay for $120 DVRs, people would complain that it's more government waste.

Three months is plenty of time. People who can't find boxes just aren't looking. And even if you make the coupons good for a year, I guarantee there will still be plenty of people who haven't used them by the end of the period, just like there are people who forget about their mail-in rebates until it's too late.

A rebate does not reduce the sale price of an article. The tax calculation is correct.

Oh, for crying out loud. There's a little thing called Google you might want to check. You can order the Dish Network TR-40CRA here. $40 and highly rated in almost every head-to-head comparison of converter boxes. I got two of them just last month. So much for hard to find and out of stock.

I'd love to, but my block hasn't had cable access for the 17 years I've lived there. Everyone on the block has satellite if they don't want to be reduced to the requisite 11 or so network channels. Which we can't afford. It's 2009, not everyone can afford it.

When you finally upgrade to a real HDTV, you'll find that it has an ATSC tuner built in. You won't need any converter boxes. Honestly, your understanding of this tech is about as good as John Del Signore's. How he got to write a story about something he doesn't understand is beyond me.

This conspiracy theory of yours is exactly the opposite of the intention. There are hundreds of millions of analog TVs already in the homes of American consumers. That includes LCDs as well as CRTs. Allowing them to just buy converter boxes means those same consumers don't have to go out and buy new TVs, which would cost a hell of a lot more than $40. Not to mention those otherwise perfectly usable TVs don't suddenly end up in landfills.

Uh, Dish Network is not local to NYC. They'll ship a TR-40CRA or two anywhere in the country, no questions asked. Just pay shipping and your local sales tax.

So do I now really have to get into how many people all over the country don't get to spend their days shopping for online bargains and commenting on blogs? How many don't have Internet access at all? How many don't have credit and debit cards with which to shop online? And how all of those people deserve the same consideration from the government as the rest of us?

I've had cable for more than a decade. I get my HD signal. That's why I don't see what the big deal is about delaying the big changeover by a few months: digital signals are already available, so if you have the technical capability for them you're OK now. This will change absolutely nothing for you; you won't even notice when the final step is taken. What difference does it make if for a few more months there's also another type of signal being broadcast that you're not using?

I would prefer the government focuses on bigger issues like affordable health care for all or coherent, fair tax laws. Not some $40 coupon to make your television work.

So would I. However, this coupon converter box program is directed at the poor and elderly. For too many of them, this is all they have.