WIRED IN WASHINGTON

Transitional Asides

Wed. Apr. 23, 2008


If the Commerce Department is to be believed, the $1.5 billion federal program to distribute $40 coupons to help defray the cost of digital converter boxes so Luddites out there (including me) don’t have to jettison their analog televisions is a smashing success.

There are encouraging signs: Consumers have requested 11.5 million vouchers, indicating the message about preparing for the momentous shift to digital TV in February is getting out, and the list of participating retailers is growing. Sam’s Club and Target will soon join Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart in stocking the devices.

As someone who’s kicked the tires on a model from Zenith, there’s no question that a converter box substantially improves an analog set’s picture quality. Gone are snowy images and fiddling with an antenna while missing the opening minutes of a favorite sitcom. Colors are more vivid, the on-screen guide creates the illusion of cable and the set-up isn’t too taxing.

Sure, there are downsides. Digital signals occasionally freeze, especially during inclement weather. And there’s the indignity of images that appear elongated because they’re optimized for rectangular digital sets, a quirk that’s easily remedied with options on my converter’s remote control.

While most programming looks better, my unit can’t handle some fast-moving scenes, especially basketball games, where the constant back-and-forth leaves the court so blurred I’ve wondered if prolonged viewing might induce seizures. Those hiccups aside, consumers should generally be pleased with this low-cost alternative to a new TV.

But regulators tend to gloss over key facts that don’t reinforce the rosy picture they’re trying to paint, so here are a few things you need to know about coupons and converters:

Application Denied: Roughly 850,000 requests for discount coupons have been rejected — about half from citizens who apparently reapplied after submitting applications months ago without any response.

Buyer Beware: Just because a retailer has been certified to accept coupons doesn’t mean it’s reputable. The Commerce Department quietly dropped online retailer Memsen, which was selling boxes at www.convertmy.tv, after receiving customer complaints. Other retailers have been decertified but the department hasn’t disclosed details.

Change At The Helm: The White House is seeking to replace Meredith Baker, head of the Commerce agency overseeing the coupon initiative, despite ample praise for her leadership. No word on when — or if — a confirmation hearing will be scheduled for her replacement, Neil Patel, an aide for Vice President Cheney.

Digital Cliff: You’re a rural resident in, say Hawaii or Alaska, you hook up a converter, turn on your TV and surprise — no picture. You’ve fallen off the “digital cliff,” the divide between perfect reception and none. Communities on the edge of a signal’s contour are particularly vulnerable, especially since digital transmissions often don’t reach as far as analog ones. A new rooftop antenna might be the only remedy.

Don’t Call Us: Major grocery stores carry just about everything, but don’t expect to find a converter box the next time you shop for soy milk and organic kumquat. HEB Grocery, with operations in Texas, is the largest grocer to sell the gadgets, but others have balked.

Late To The Game: Commerce has heralded the participation of Sam’s Club and Target, but they’re actually latecomers, given that the agency announced in December those chains were on board. While other retailers have been selling converters since February, Target will have them in mid-May and Sam’s Club in June. Sears and its affiliate K-Mart are cleared to participate, but didn’t respond to queries about whether they actually would, and if so, when.

Least We Can Do: Retailers are generally not going out of their way to promote digital converters. If distributing these gadgets has a larger public goal, you wouldn’t know it from stepping inside most participating stores, which usually hide them in obscure locations or back rooms.

Low-Blow: Low-power TV stations, still angry that most of the government-certified boxes block analog signals — which they’ll continue to beam for several years — are suing to halt the entire effort. Imagine the chaos if they win.

Offline: It’s hard to believe, but major retailers are not selling the boxes online, though Best Buy and Radio Shack offer them via toll-free phone numbers. The reason: They can’t accept outside coupons.

Second-Class Citizens: Rule changes designed to make it easier for seniors in nursing homes and rural citizens with postal boxes to obtain vouchers won’t be adopted until at least the summer, resulting in a late start in applications for populations considered at risk of losing reception during the Feb. 17 switch.

What’s A VCR?: In the rush to get the units on store shelves, incidentals such as providing instructions on hooking up VCRs were sometimes overlooked. The manual accompanying my Zenith model doesn’t broach the issue and DTV-related Web sites provide scant and conflicting advice.

by David Hatch

Wed. Apr. 23, 2008

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