Rush on DTV Converter Box Coupons: More than 1M Requested

RUSH ON DTV CONVERTER BOX COUPONS: MORE THAN 1 MILLION REQUESTED
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
More than 500,000 people requested more than 1 million $40 coupons toward the purchase of digital-to-analog converters in the first 40 or so hours of the program, according to National Telecommunications & Information Administration spokesman Todd Sedmak. The requests were coming from every state in the union, according to Sedmak, and almost all were applying for the maximum two coupons per household. With the NTIA given enough money by Congress to subsidize a total of 33.5 million coupons, this means that if the furious pace were maintained, all of the coupons could be spoken for almost before the first ones hit viewers' mailboxes at the end of February. But once the number exceeds 22.25 million coupons, the NTIA will have to dip into a second pool of money for the rest and limit them to only households that do not subscribe to multichannel-video services like cable or satellite.
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* Demand Brisk For DTV Converter Coupons
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