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
Coupon Clipper Update

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(s)

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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