Coupon Clipper Update

With the DTV transition just two months away, roughly three fourths of homes that rely on rabbit ears have requested box coupons

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

December 19, 2008

1 Min Read
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11:35 AM -- With about two months to go before full-power TV broadcasters make the transition to digital on February 17, roughly 76 percent of households that rely on over-the-air video signals have requested government-issued coupons that are good toward the purchase of digital-to-analog converter boxes.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) , the organization that heads up the program, reported that about 11 million homes that still rely on good ol’ rabbit ears have requested the $40 coupons. About 14.3 million U.S. homes use antennas to obtain their video signals, according to Nielsen data.

So far, 22 million households (obviously a figure that includes many homes that have secondary sets not connected to a cable, satellite, or telco TV services) have requested more than 41 million coupons. Nearly 17 million coupons, each worth $40 toward converter box purchases, have been redeemed, the NTIA said.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News

About the Author

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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