Comments on: $40 DTV box subsidy: Is it enough?

The U.S. government has detailed plans to subsidize the purchase of DTV converter boxes with $40 coupons, but will people still be confused?

[RPrentice]

$40 DTV box subsidy...socialism at its worst

I'm fundamentally opposed to any form of government-funded digital television (DTV) box subsidy. Free television should not be a "right." We already have free telephone service via the telephone access fee (tax) hidden within everyone's phone bill. What's next? Free mail service? Free internet? Free video games? This is socialism at its worst.

As far as the digital television conversion set for Feb 2009 goes...stop delaying and just do it already! Everyone (broadcasters, manufacturers, public) has already had many years to prepare for this transition. Those analog frequencies are badly needed for emergency communications.

[Edbudzil]

I'm a socialist on welfare who... Well, I'm not, but I bet that got your hackles up even higher. (Would you be happier if I were a subsidized millionaire farmer watching DVD's in his megabuck tractor?) Yes, our country has lagged behind the rest of the developed world in implementing digital. They've got it and we don't because of government "intervention". It's the captialist pig :) manufacturers and their format wars who delay the process- the government just needs to be more proactive. It can be easily be argued that television has become, if not a necessity, an integral part of society. The change to digital is not my choice. I'm happy with my old (motion-lag-free) CRT TV. Hey, wait a minute- with that $1,200 government bribe- I mean, economic stimulus check, I can put a down payment on a plasma TV!

[RPrentice]

$40 DTV box subsidy...socialism at its worst

I'm fundamentally opposed to any form of government-funded digital television (DTV) box subsidy. Free television should not be a "right." We already have free telephone service via the telephone access fee (tax) hidden within everyone's phone bill. What's next? Free mail service? Free internet? Free video games? This is socialism at its worst.

As far as the digital television conversion set for Feb 2009 goes...stop delaying and just do it already! Everyone (broadcasters, manufacturers, public) has already had many years to prepare for this transition. Those analog frequencies are badly needed for emergency communications.

[Sanfordf]

For more information please visit:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv/DTVconsumers.pdf

[Sanfordf]

For more information please visit:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv/DTVconsumers.pdf

[JohnWOwen]

Brought 2u by that same group that pays $600 for..

This is going to be a MAJOR cluster-f**k of a program! It will be FULL of fraud and abuse, by both consumers AND seedy mfgrs & retailers. $990 million has been allocated for the program, but the govt bureaucracy will easily spend 4 to 5 times that amount in implementing the program. Think about it! $80 per household for the program and the govt will EASILY cost us/TAXPAYERS $400 per household because of their inefficiencies! (remember...we are STILL paying OVER $600 for a frigging TOILET SEAT and $200 for a HAMMER!)
Do the math. At two units per household, this program would INITIALLY reach OVER 12 MILLION households. And MORE when the additional funds kick in!
Now put the mfgrs and retailers in the middle, between the "program" and the consumer, stir well, and wah-lahh! CLUSTER-FLOCK!!!!
Gotta stop & not put any more energy into this!
Have a GREAT DAY & .....DO/SELL something!

"A TERRIBLE thing happens when good & services don''t get SOLD.......N-O-T-H-I-N-G!"
JWO

[JohnWOwen]

Brought 2u by that same group that pays $600 for..

This is going to be a MAJOR cluster-f**k of a program! It will be FULL of fraud and abuse, by both consumers AND seedy mfgrs & retailers. $990 million has been allocated for the program, but the govt bureaucracy will easily spend 4 to 5 times that amount in implementing the program. Think about it! $80 per household for the program and the govt will EASILY cost us/TAXPAYERS $400 per household because of their inefficiencies! (remember...we are STILL paying OVER $600 for a frigging TOILET SEAT and $200 for a HAMMER!)
Do the math. At two units per household, this program would INITIALLY reach OVER 12 MILLION households. And MORE when the additional funds kick in!
Now put the mfgrs and retailers in the middle, between the "program" and the consumer, stir well, and wah-lahh! CLUSTER-FLOCK!!!!
Gotta stop & not put any more energy into this!
Have a GREAT DAY & .....DO/SELL something!

"A TERRIBLE thing happens when good & services don''t get SOLD.......N-O-T-H-I-N-G!"
JWO

[kingtone]

These boxes are going to be free

I think retailers are going to cut the price and offer these things for $40 so in the end it's a wash. Especially the big stores like Best Buy, Costco etc.
Why wouldn't they? Perfect opportunity to give something for "free" and get people in there who might not otherwise go. Maybe they'll have a look around at all the pretty LCD's and Plasmas that they hadn't considered before.

[kingtone]

These boxes are going to be free

I think retailers are going to cut the price and offer these things for $40 so in the end it's a wash. Especially the big stores like Best Buy, Costco etc.
Why wouldn't they? Perfect opportunity to give something for "free" and get people in there who might not otherwise go. Maybe they'll have a look around at all the pretty LCD's and Plasmas that they hadn't considered before.

[jw55]

I'm reading this

"If you're reading this, chances are you don't really need a $40 coupon to help pay for a converter box" I'm not sure what you mean? Do you think all your readers have the money to junk perfectly good tv's just to keep up with this year's technology which will probably be obsolete next year. Having spent well over a thousand dollars for my crt and being of limited means I'm not about to junk it before it's dead. Especially since I am less than impressed with much of the new technology. I'm no luddite (honest) but the lcd and plasma tv that I might be able to buy just don't measure up to a top of the line crt.

[jw55]

I'm reading this

"If you're reading this, chances are you don't really need a $40 coupon to help pay for a converter box" I'm not sure what you mean? Do you think all your readers have the money to junk perfectly good tv's just to keep up with this year's technology which will probably be obsolete next year. Having spent well over a thousand dollars for my crt and being of limited means I'm not about to junk it before it's dead. Especially since I am less than impressed with much of the new technology. I'm no luddite (honest) but the lcd and plasma tv that I might be able to buy just don't measure up to a top of the line crt.

[dzornow]

Who does this benefit?

I found a piece of syndicated research a few months ago noting that 66% of
the people with income BELOW $20k/year ALREADY have satellite or cable.
And that number is prorably LOW.

When Money is No Object for Must Fee TV
http://tngresearch.com/newsite/articles/cyn_70412_lowinc.htm

It's not an income issue; it's an age issue. The same people who find cable
too convoluted to connect aren't going to find a converter box any easier to
use, either.

[dzornow]

Who does this benefit?

I found a piece of syndicated research a few months ago noting that 66% of
the people with income BELOW $20k/year ALREADY have satellite or cable.
And that number is prorably LOW.

When Money is No Object for Must Fee TV
http://tngresearch.com/newsite/articles/cyn_70412_lowinc.htm

It's not an income issue; it's an age issue. The same people who find cable
too convoluted to connect aren't going to find a converter box any easier to
use, either.

[bruceslog]

Free TV is not free - Nor

Free Television is not free... it's paid for by millions of people having to watch 20 minutes or more of commercials per program ( and which the networks certainly think is worth the billions of dollars they make off of such a system, so much so that they keep doing it ). We All pay for our "free" TV when we buy stuff. So it isn't so free, whether you watch over the air TV or not, now is it ?
What is NOT right is for a government to to now force all of it's citizens to pay to watch TV ( by making people go "digital", and having to buy a NEW TV, or having to buy Satellite or cable digital service, OR having to buy new hardware that will still allow everyone's current analog TV's to work. That is just plain Wrong, man ! ) just because the gov't decided to sell ( and make even more billions from ) the frequencies that said TV programming is using. And we the people DO have the Right to have our government help folks out when they do make such a law. Without being labeled socialists by a blindly judgmental label maker like you !
And who are you to even speak for everyone else in saying that free TV shouldn't be a right ? We've always had it, it's a hallmark of our great country, just like "FREE RADIO". And Free Water !
Do you own Microsoft or something ? and think that everyone should have to pay up the nose for every dang thing ?

If our "free" over the air TV is socialism, then I reckon that the free TV and Radio that our great country has been watching and hearing for the last hundred years or so had it's pretty dang good start in socialism by your definition, now didn't it ?
Sheesh Dude...

[kingphiz]

shut the **** up u do not know what u talking about *****