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For Immediate Release
 
June 15, 2007
Digital television pre-registration could make life easier for all TV owners
Washington, DC - Concerned about the effect an upcoming mandatory transition to digital television signals will have on consumers, Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) requested a pre-registration system to give the public fair warning.

 

“Our regular (analog) television sets will not receive signals after February 18, 2009,” Green said. “That is the date of our national transition from analog to digital signals. Consumers need to know now that in less than two years analog sets will not work without a converter box.”

 

Green sent the request in a letter on June 14 to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an executive branch agency that advises the president on telecommunications issues. In the letter, Green said an internet-based pre-registration system for the digital-to-analog converter box coupons would benefit electronic and retail industries by indicating the demand for the boxes in different areas of the country. Green also wrote that such a program would allow Congress to assess the adequacy of funding for the coupon program and make additional allocations if necessary.

 

Marc Pearl, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, encouraged the NTIA to make the coupon program “as simple, understandable, and convenient as possible.” Commenting on Green’s plan for a pre-registration system, he said, “Giving NTIA’s program contractor this information to work with should help them address consumer, as well as manufacturer and retailer, planning requirements.”

 

The transition from an analog to a digital television signal will take place on February 18, 2009, and affect the entire country. Televisions that receive over-the-air television signals, as opposed to cable or satellite signals, will need a converter box in order to function after the transition. Some recently manufactured televisions can receive either analog or digital signals, but many households have analog-only sets.

 

The Converter Box Coupon Program provides a $40 subsidy to help pay for the converter boxes, which will cost around $60 for the low-end models, and the NTIA will begin accepting applications January 1, 2008.

 

Green has enlisted the support of several other members of Congress in his effort to establish a pre-registration system. Those who signed his letter to the NTIA were: Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), Rep. Ed Towns (D-NY), and Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, (D-Texas). 

 

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