If you’ve been waiting for the last minute to convert your TV to digital, it may be too late to get the free $40 coupon. The government-issued coupon, which offers $40 off a digital converter box, has reached its $1.34 billion capacity and remaining consumers will now be put on a waiting list, as of Jan. 4.

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has offered the coupon discounts for nearly a year to help consumers prepare for the digital TV transition. On Feb. 17,  the major TV networks will switch to an all digital broadcast.

If you have cable, satellite or other paid TV service, you don’t need to do a thing. People with newer digital TVs are also not affected. But consumers who rely on an analog TV and antenna  will see a blank screen after the deadline. Some networks will broadcast  DTV transition information for an additional 30 days over the analog airwaves.

Consumers can apply for coupons online at www.DTV2009.gov, by phone at 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009), via fax at 1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632) or by mail to P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208-2000. Deaf or hard of hearing callers may dial 1-877-530-2634 (English TTY) or 1-866-495-1161 (Spanish TTY). Nursing home residents may apply with the paper application available downloadable at www.DTV2009.gov.

If you missed out on the coupon, you can still buy a digital converter box, which are priced between $40 to $80. Here’s a list of places that sell DTV boxes: https://www.dtv2009.gov/VendorSearch.aspx.

Related posts:

• Guide to the 2009 Digital TV transition
• Consumer DTV information www.dtvanswers.com
• Coupon program www.DTV2009.gov
• FCC on DTV www.dtv.gov
• Coupon expired? Apex Digital offers $10 for expired coupons
• 99 days until the digital TV transition changes TV
• 50% more coupons available for digital TV converter box program
• Digital TV coupons now available to more users
• Digital TV discounts still available; Amazon starts selling converter boxes
• 23 reviews of digital converter boxes
  
• Most digital-TV coupons expire before being used
• Portable TVs will fade away after February
• Reminder: Digital converters bought with coupons aren’t taxable

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