Senate Commerce Committee Wants Consumer Flexibility on DTV Coupons

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ranking Member Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) want consumers to be able to use their DTV-to-analog converter box coupons to preorder the boxes. They also want viewers whose coupons have expired (they are invalid after three months) to be able to reapply for them. In a letter to Meredith Attwell Baker, acting head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which administers the coupon program, 11 senators said that they are concerned that coupons could expire before some boxes are available. Top House Democrats have also made that request. In addition to allowing viewers to reapply for the coupons -- money permitting -- they want NTIA to consider "novel approaches," like allowing the coupons to be applied to boxes out-of-stock or not yet available in stores. Some of the lowest-cost boxes may not be available until early summer, including one by EchoStar, which said it would price its box at $39.99 (coupons are for $40 apiece), but won't likely have them widely available until June. In a separate letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairman William Kovacic, the same senators asked the FTC to keep an eye out for DTV transition fraud. They did not site any particular examples, but said that the DTV transition provides "fertile ground" for criminals to "take advantage of confused or misinformed customers," such as those for whom English is a second language and the elderly.
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