Recently the government announced that they are out of money for the Digital Converter Box coupon program. Well, it’s not that they’re out of money it’s that they havn’t decided yet to allocate some more money from the billions they got from private companies when they sold off the soon to be available bandwidth. Unless of course Obama gets his way and they delay the transition yet again. Now that somebody has paid billions of dollars for something they will get after the transition I think it’s pretty unlikely to be delayed much if at all.
Although I have cable I decided to request a coupon last month and use some extra money I’ve earned to get a converter box. I’m currently paying for cable through the HOA at a cost of $8 a month which I’m sure won’t last forever. I have a TV that isn’t digital and a TV tuner on my PC that isn’t digital. So I figured that for $10 I’d give it a whirl.
When I picked up my converter today I realized why they aren’t just free with a coupon: because the state gets the tax on the full value of the converter. The converter I bought cost $50 and tax is 8.8% so I paid $4.40 in tax and THEN the $40 was taken off. I was taxed 8.8% on $50 not $10. So the state gets a cut of this deal as well. The reason that the government is just having private companies build these things is because it’s creating a new market which is a good thing in this economy. Companies can then charge a reasonable amount over the value of the coupon and make a profit without pissing off consumers (too much). That box is not worth $50-60 but it is worth $10-20.
A day or two ago Slashdot had a discussion going on this coupon shortage story and somebody posted a sob story about a poor friend who couldn’t afford the $10-15 for a converter box. Maybe it’s not absurd that there exist some people who seriously can’t find $20 in their budget in any reasonable amount of time (less than 6 months) to shift from some other non-essential to a converter box so they can continue watching TV which they claim is so important to them and I was tempted to feel sorry for such a person until I plugged my brand new antenna into my TV. An antenna which happened to cost $13.
So let’s pretend I’m so strapped for cash I can’t afford a digital converter box and all I have is a cheap pair of rabbit ears. The channels, I mean, *channel* that comes in is channel 8. PBS.
In the posted sob story this friend couldn’t afford $10-15 for a digital converter box and expected the government to bail him out in some way so he could watch TV.
Meanwhile I’m forced to pay $8 a month for cable or all I get is a very fuzzy version of PBS. Should the government mandate that over the air channels be accessible for free everywhere in the US? Of course not. Whether you can’t afford a $10 converter box or can’t afford $45 a month for unsubsidized cable, or can’t afford a rooftop antenna it’s all your responsibility to find the money or do without broadcast/cable TV.
It’s not up to the government to make sure every home in America can get TV stations. It’s up to people to adjust their financial priorities so they can afford to have it if they want. If that means doing without something else for a few months so you can get the converter box or a better antenna then that’s what you have to do.
People need to stop whining and do what needs to be done. Some people should feel lucky that it’s only going to cost them a one time expense of $10-25 to get a converter box. For many people they have to subscribe to cable and pay a monthy fee indefinitely or they get nothing.
In my case if cable stops being subsidized heavily by the HOA it’s going to go and when that time comes I’ll either have to fork over money for a better antenna or just do without broadcast TV. Sometimes the problem isn’t financial, it’s location.
The other reason I don’t feel sorry for the guy who wanted it but “couldn’t afford it” is because I couldn’t afford it either and yet I got it. I find ways to make extra money so all the money from my day job goes to things we need and the extra money is used for toys. It doens’t matter how much or how little you make, sometimes you need to be resourceful and find ways to earn extra money if you want something.
