Posted on 01/02/2008 10:52:25 AM PST by Kid Shelleen
The federal government doesn't usually give things away, but starting Tuesday broadcast TV watchers can apply for a gift that could keep their sets from going dark in 2009.
Via a toll-free hot line and Web site the Commerce Department will begin accepting applications for coupons worth $40 off a no-frills converter box to allow older televisions to receive digital broadcast signals.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Unbelievable.
Gotta keep the people under the spell, ya know? Don’t want to give them time to think.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yes, that RIGHT to properly receive digital television signals is prominently featured in the Constitution, just beneath the paragraph concerning the RIGHT to a free Power Chair.....
When the change comes, the estimated 30 million televisions that use traditional antennas will go to snow without a digital converter box. The cable industry is spending $200 million to educate customers, and Congress has set aside $1.5 billion to help subsidize the purchase of converter boxes.
I applied for one...will update you if I get it!
Supposed one day the gov’t decided natural gas was too harmful and decided to shut off all the pipelines. Could you make a case that the gov’t “took” the functionality of your furnace from you?
They give my money away every day.
Wow. Free! Let’s do it!
What a waste of your and my money. Obviously our “government” has no idea of what it means to let the free market do what it will.
I don’t see any 8-tracks or Betamax around. Silver halide based photography is almost dead. The government didn’t give people coupons or any other subsidies for those things. It didn’t interfere with the free market.
how much do those boxes cost because 1.5 billion is like $70 dollars for all $220 million people in the country
I have looked up a couple of examples of "no frills" digital TV converters and they are not yet on the market.
Examples of Basic Digital TV Adapters:
RCA DTA800
Zenith DTT900
Very few people are affected by this entirely. Many people have one or 2 old TV’s that might not work anymore, but guess what? That would be the case if the TV’s just decided to break, which old TV’s do anyway, and the cost of repair or a new television is no worse than what these converters cost anyway. Saying this is something the government must do is like saying they must subsidise the repair/replacement of your TV if it just straight breaks and quits working.
Did 8 tracks depend on the public airwaves? Did the gov’t pass legislation that made 8 track players suddenly unusable? I don’t remember that.
I don’t know what the big deal is. The Federal Government is reclaiming a large swath of spectrum and reselling it for billions and billions of dollars. They want to spend a few million trying to make it a zero-impact change to as many people as possible. And people are freaking out about it?
You can use older, first or second generation non-activated HD Satellite TV recievers, they also have a built-in over-the-air digital tuner and they have the right connectors to “downconvert” them to an older television. You don’t have to actually activate or pay for the “satellite” part - you can just use the digital over-the-air tuner in it.
I want a new refrigerator.
Cordially,
In fairness, the government didn’t pass a law mandating that 8-tracks or Betamax tapes would cease to function after a certain date. It also didn’t make billions of dollars selling the right to use the technology that replaced those items.
Having said that, how many people anymore don’t have either cable or satellite (those boxes serve the same function as the boxes the government is giving away for standalone TVs) and won’t have purchased a new TV in the past few years, but who want to watch over-the-air standard resolution broadcasts? I’m wondering if there’s not another use for these boxes (i.e. get them for free and sell them to someone) or if there isn’t an important legislator with a big financial stake in a company that makes them.
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