gila river girl

I just applied for a DTV coupon and received a reply "program funding is not currently available, you will not receive coupons unless more funding becomes available."

This is the official reply from the DTV.gov website. What is the deal? Did they run out of money?

Jay

Wow....Did you apply at www.dtv2009.gov?

There have been reports about the government running out of money for the coupon program, but they were to have enough funding to atleast last until February. Congress is supposed to be able to approve additional funding if needed.....I can't imagine they'd let funding run out before Congressional approval??

gila river girl

Yes, I applied on line the DTV website, and have done this for 3 customers each time getting a reply "funding not available." I've searched for any response on the web, nothing.

has anyone else heard anything?

is there really no money left?

Jean

Jay

This is unbelievable, I just tried to apply and received this message:

Jay

Looks like the DTV Coupon Program is now putting applicants on a wait list.

Source: The Associated Press: Feds start wait list for DTV converter box coupons

divxhacker

I wonder how fast they actually register the coupon expirations to shift the funds to new coupons. Some people are getting the coupons only as souvenirs. My cousin got two coupons early last year but doesn't need them since he says he's fine with cable. They've expired since.

My mom got two, but they had expired, so she cut them like old credit cards and tossed them, and got a second set from my brother. DTV boxes weren't good around here, so they had the same fate - snip, snip, toss. The third set from my sister went to a Zenith DTT901 and a Digitalstream DTX9900. The Digitalstream had lousy channel reception, so it was exchanged for a Zenith DTT901.

I got a pair of Zinwells through coupons requested by my friend. I gave him one converter box, and he likes the new variety of channels that cable has omitted from their service.

And thanks to Meredith Attwell Baker's comment on the AP article, we might see bidding wars on eBay for even the crappiest units.

christyanne

My aunt ordered her coupons 2 months ago, so if she receives them in the next few days, she really only has like 2 months to use them, and that's if she receives them. Why doesn't the government have more phone operators on standby to answer questions? That seems like it could be a big help for people.

DTV Transition Guy

I never thought it would come to this Jay. I was sure they at least had enough funding to last through February 17th. It amazes me how the government always takes a good thing and manages to screw it up and confuse everybody.

Jay

I thought for sure that the NTIA would be granted more money from Congress for the DTV coupon program. Waiting for old coupons to expire (to free up funds) before sending out new coupons, and allowing over one million people to be put on a waiting list is not a good thing, especially with the digital transition right around the corner.

Studogvetmed

This is crazy. To think I almost waited to apply for my coupons this month. My wife yelled at me in December so I requested mine right before Christmas. Got mine and they expire 3/9/09

With all the expiration problems, you'd hope things cycle through quickly.