NTIA still doesn't have money needed to free up growing DTV coupon waiting list

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration's digital-to-analog converter box coupon program still does not have the money it needs to free up its growing waiting list -- 4.3 million applications at last count -- though it is looking for word to come any time. "We still do not have access to the funding," said NTIA spokesman Bart Forbes. "There is nothing new to report at this time." The program has been running, but at a snail's pace, with coupons sent out only when other coupons expire. NTIA can't start sending out the coupons en masse until it get's access to the $650 million set aside for that purpose in the economic stimulus package, and it can't get that access until the Office of Management and Budget gives it the go-ahead. The OMB press office had not returned several calls for comment on the status of that go-ahead.