Digital TV Facts: The Latest

Q. Will the government provide coupons worth $40 off the purchase of a cable box?

A. No, the coupons are not for cable boxes.

Two stories about set-top boxes have been in the news recently. Let’s untangle them, shall we?

The first story concerns over-the-air viewers, who are being introduced to digital TV converter boxes. These devices are for antenna-equipped viewers who own conventional, non-digital TV sets. A DTV converter box (or “digital TV adapter”) will allow an analog TV to continue receiving local stations after the termination of analog television broadcasts in 2009. The federal government can help you with the cost on that one: Any U.S. household may request up to two digital converter coupons, each worth 40 bucks, beginning in 2008.

The other story is for digital cable subscribers. As of July 1, new FCC regulations concerning digital cable boxes took effect. The rules are intended to give consumers the option of purchasing their own cable boxes. If you can find anybody to sell you one, though, the government won’t subsidize the purchase. Those $40 coupons are only good toward DTV converter boxes, not cable boxes.

Cable companies are also required to switch to a newer type of digital cable box, which accepts a plug-in CableCARD. Existing boxes can stay in subscribers’ homes, but from now on only CableCARD boxes can be rented to digital cable subscribers (unless your cable company managed to obtain an FCC waiver). The cable industry is warning that the newer, more expensive boxes will trigger rate increases, perhaps as soon as January. No coupons for that, either. But if you want to dump cable and go back to the antenna in protest, you can make your DTV converter coupon request beginning January 1.

Related:
• DTV Converter Box Coupons
• Converter Boxes
• Facts for cable subscribers

Earlier:
• Free cable coupons: A disruptive innovation
• Digital cable gets boost from FCC
• Cable lobby battles CableCARD mandate
• When the best cable TV box is none at all