I have been disgusted for years about this government-forced digital TV conversion. Now the government is rubbing my nose into it.
Jan. 1 on the TV news and in The Forum I was told of the government-supplied converter box coupons. Today I tried to take care of that online. It was a failure. Then I called 888-388-2009. It was quick, efficient and then the bomb.
It will be more than a year from now - Feb. 18, 2009 - before we are forced into high definition digital improvement of the junk that emanates from TV. Yet, at the end of the telephone message when I was told that I'd be sent two coupons. I was then told that they will expire 90 days after they are mailed to me. That infuriates me.
This whole digital TV fiasco might be great for the TV manufacturers and retailers, but it is just a costly thing for many of us who have chosen to get our TV news and football by means of our decades-old antennae. The announcement on the telephone even said that these needed converter boxes will not even be available for some time, yet the coupons will fade and be worthless.
We should not be forced into digital TV, and if we are, we should be able to wait it out as long as we wish.
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Gene P. Johnson, Fargo, Letter: We're being forced to buy digital TVs 20080105
