Get your coupons soon

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/200901..._tv_transition

WASHINGTON - The Feb. 17 transition from analog to digital television
broadcasts looms and as many as 8 million households are still unprepared,
but the government program that subsidizes crucial TV converter boxes is
about to run out of money.

People who still rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air signals -
whether it is through rabbit-ear aerials on TVs or antennas on the roof -
will see their screens go dark when the changeover happens. To avoid that,
those people have to switch to cable or satellite TV, buy a television set
with a digital tuner or buy a converter box that can translate digital
signals from the airwaves into analog.

To subsidize the converter boxes, most of which cost between $40 and $80,
the government has been letting consumers request up to two $40 coupons per
home. But any day now, the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA), the arm of the Commerce Department in charge of
administering the coupon program, expects to hit a $1.34 billion funding
ceiling set by Congress.