Posted on 01/14/2008 10:53:29 PM PST by canuck_conservative
Millions of older and disabled Americans in nursing and adult-care homes are excluded from a government program that helps people convert their TV sets to receive a new digital signal next year.
The reason? A federal program that pays for digital converter boxes for older televisions -- necessary when all TV broadcasting goes digital early next year -- specifically requires recipients to live in a "household" as recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau. Adult-care and nursing homes are considered "group quarters" instead of households by the census bureau, a spokesman for the bureau said.
That means those residents might lose out on as much as $80 in coupons per household, which was provided by more than $1 billion in federal assistance to enable Americans to keep their old televisions, rather than have to buy a new set.
"We're going to be thrown back into the 1930s and the 1940s," said Joel Council, 73, a Cary assisted-living resident who was turned down for a coupon this week. "It will take me six months to save that much money."
A spokesman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, said Tuesday that its staff is working with third-party groups such as nonprofits to help people in long-term care get converters. In addition, family and friends should help residents, spokesman Todd Sedmak said.
All Americans will begin getting their television shows in digital signals on Feb. 17, 2009. New televisions will be equipped to receive the digital signal, but many old televisions will need converter boxes, which the government estimates will cost up to $70. To help cover the cost, the government set up a converter-box coupon program offered to consumers through the U.S. Department of Commerce.
More than 1 million households have requested coupons since the program opened Jan. 1, the federal National Telecommunications and Information Administration said Monday.
People such as Council should be perfect candidates for help in converting older, rabbit-ears televisions to receive digital signals, said Joan Pellettier, director of the multicounty Triangle J Area Agency on Aging.
"Think of the people who are not currently receiving cable -- by definition they are isolated already," Pellettier said. "They don't have the funds to purchase cable. These could very well be particularly vulnerable individuals -- we want them to remain connected to their communities."
Watching television is a staple of daily life in many centers, providing entertainment, news and emergency information. People 75 and over in all settings spend more than four hours a day watching television -- the most time spent watching of any age group, according to a 2006 federal survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"We need it worse than anyone," Council said. "A lot of people just won't be able to get it without the coupons -- they won't have televisions."
Information campaign
Trade groups and the Commerce Department have worked for more than a year on a public information campaign about the switch to all-digital broadcasting, which is supposed to provide clearer pictures and free up needed broadcast frequencies.
Shermaze Ingram, spokeswoman for the National Association of Broadcasters, said Tuesday that Triangle viewers will be seeing public service announcements on the changeover. Older people also will get specific information in public appearances by some area broadcasters at places such as senior centers.
But there's little help from the government for the converter problem in long-term care. Residents, many of whom are on fixed incomes and have their care paid for by government programs, will have to scramble to get the TV upgrade.
"Anything that is an institutional type of residence will be a problem for consumers looking for a coupon," Ingram said. "There is broad awareness of this as a potential problem for consumers."
Sedmak, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration spokesman, referred a reporter to a congressional hearing in September on digital access for older people, which spent a few minutes on the situation of people in long-term care.
"We did rely on the census definition of households, and persons living in institutions are not eligible as households, per se," John Kneuer, then assistant secretary of the agency, told a Senate committee.
"That's why part of our education effort is to reach out and work with the communities that do work with people in those facilities to make sure that they're aware of the transition as it's coming. ... There is nothing that would prevent a caregiver or a relative from redeeming a coupon, purchasing a box and bringing it to somebody who lives in one of those institutions."
That's another hitch. Many older people in long-term care have no relatives who visit. And for those isolated residents, TV can be even more important.
TO GET A COUPON
How do I request a coupon for an analog-to-digital converter box?
Before March 31, 2009, you can request a coupon while supplies last in one of four ways:
* Apply online at www.dtv2009.gov.
* Call the coupon program 24-hour hot line (888) 388-2009 or TTY (887) 530-2634
* Mail a coupon application to: P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR, 97208-2000.
* Fax a coupon application to (877) 388-4632.
NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
*** Note the “while supplies last” part!!
Got my coupons...
BTW...what do a bunch of old geezers need converter boxes for? Can’t they just watch reruns of Matlock on DVD?
BTW, I'm in Bolingbrook, IL and something seems to be interfering with the low VHF analog stations (2 and 5) and is probably what prevents me from usefully receiving the low VHF digital station (WBBM-D broadcasting on channel 3). The interference seems to consist of very sharp spikes at a rate of about 15KHz which is synchronous to the video frame; it thus causes a bright dot per line, staggered by about 2us or so. Any idea what might be causing that or what could be done to correct it?
“Millions of older and disabled Americans in nursing and adult-care
homes are excluded from a government program that helps people convert
their TV sets to receive a new digital signal next year.”
Well, I wonder if the Feds will come and arrest subversives that will
order the coupon, buy a converter box with the coupon...and gift the
box to someone in a nursing home...
Who am I fooling?
The Feds are probably at this moment training a small army of inspectors
to check converter boxes in nursing/rest homes and confiscate them
if the serial number matches a purchase by a regular homeowner
like myself.
I wasn’t going to bother with the coupons, but if this is true I think I’ll get them anyway. There’s a nursing home two blocks from me. I’m sure someone there would need a box.
HDTV?
Some reporter needs to do a bit of research.
This is a DTV story, not HDTV.
When I ordered mine, the guy knew more about me than my parents...wonder if these boxes will be coded with my info, thus not being able to donate them... amazing a household with 35 undocumented aliens can get the box but a “group nursing home” cannot..
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