Starting on February 17, the federal government has ordered U.S. television stations to turn off their analog signals and begin broadcasting only digital signals.
Unfortunately, the government program that subsidizes TV converter boxes has run out of money. Close to one million affected Americans are now on waiting lists for coupons. Consumers did not ask for this transition to digital TV, but now they're being asked to pay for it.
The federal government is getting $19 billion from selling the analog TV spectrum, while over 6 million U.S. households with analog TVs are being forced to spend their own money for a converter box.
Approximately 20 million Americans rely on over-the-air broadcasts and do not use digital television technology already.
Americans have to make hard choices for their families in this economic climate. Tell your lawmakers in Congress that they need to delay the digital transition until these problems are fixed – not shift the economic burden onto consumers.
Dear [Decision Maker]:
I am concerned that too many Americans may not be ready for the digital television transition on February 17. I believe Congress should consider delaying the transition until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals, particularly by fixing the flaws in the federal coupon program created to offset the cost of this transition.
On January 4, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced that funding for the federal converter box coupon program had run out. NTIA is now placing hundreds of thousands of U.S. consumers onto a waiting list each day, and telling consumers to either pay for converter boxes themselves, or subscribe to cable or satellite TV service.
The federal government will receive over $19 billion as a result of the DTV spectrum auction. Millions of consumers could now be forced to spend their own money to navigate this federally mandated transition. This economic climate is not the right time to ask consumers to dig deeper into their own pockets to pay for the miscalculation by the federal government.
[Your Comments]
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
