Hasta La Gadget!

A month ago, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) revealed that 1.8 million households were still waiting to receive up to 3.3 million coupons needed to buy TV converters for the national DTV transition.

This week, the NTIA is saying the coupons have been shipped, the waiting list is clear and that it’s accepting new applications.

I’m wondering if maybe this isn’t completely correct, as I asked for two coupons and have yet to receive them. Maybe they just cleared the slate clean without finishing the shipping and they’re building a new, improved, clean database.

According to the NTIA, the coupons shipped out faster than before through help provided in the economic stimulus package. It provided $650 million to the whole of the converter box program, and $90 million of it is due for outreach and DTV education programs. Not all of it has been used.

With the money, the NTIA has been able to use first-class mail to send the coupons and enhanced the agency’s fraud and abuse checks program. As PC World notes, this also has allowed the agency to cut the processing time of application from three weeks down to nine days.

Two months ago, the DTV Delay Act postponed the transition from analog to digital signals for over the air televisions from Feb. 17 to June 12. Shipping delays (and a budget shortfall) with the coupon program was among the reasons regulators cited when they were negotiating the delay.

Originally enacted in 2005, the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act compels U.S. TV stations to only broadcast digital signals, which will improve the picture quality of TV programming and frees up airwaves for emergency responders.

But if a significant number of people can’t receive those emergency signals through their TVs, the transition presents a potential danger to public. The latest numbers say that close to 4 million people in the U.S. have not switched over to a digital signal.

The NTIA recently said that with the budget boost, it now has close to 12 million new coupons ready to distribute.

If you haven’t kept up with the news, here are the three options you (or more likely, your older relatives) have regarding the DTV transition: a) You can connect your TV to a cable, satellite, or PPV service (their respective boxes are DTV-compatible), b) buy a new TV that includes a digital converter, or c), keep your old TV and buy the converter box.

If you still need to apply for a coupon, or you need to re-apply to receive one that has expired, go to www.DTV2009.gov, or call 1-888-388-2009.

What about you guys? Have you applied for a coupon in the last three months and did you receive it? If not, please let me know.

Photo: feedtacoma