How to Save Money and Still Enjoy High Definition Television

You've seen the commercials and magazine advertisements. At midnight on February 17, 2009, the airwaves will transition from analog to all-digital. This means that if you have an older (analog) television set, it will not receive a signal until you either purchase a new digital television or a digital converter box. You can adjust your antenna all you want to, but you're not going to be able to watch TV after that date.

The good news is that you don't have to rush out and spend $1500 on a new high-definition digital television set. Rather, you can order coupon vouchers worth $40 each toward the purchase of a digital TV converter box.

When you go to the store to purchase your converter box, you'll pay only around $10 per box. Not a bad deal!

Here's how to save money while still enjoying the quality picture of digital TV on your old television set.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A computer with an Internet connection
• A home mailing address

1. 
   www.dtv2009.org

   Point your Web browser to www.dtv2009.gov.

2. 
   Apply for a Coupon Page

   Click (1) Apply for a Coupon to go to the Apply for a Coupon page.

3. 

   Type your name and address.

4. 

   For (2) TV Service, select the situation that applies to you (whether your TVs have cable or satellite subscriptions).

5. 

   Choose whether you want one or two coupons. You can only use one coupon per digital conversion box.

6. 

   Under (4), check the "By checking this box, you declare that the above is true and correct" checkbox.

7. 

   Enter the CAPTCHA text.

8. 

   Click Submit.

9. Make a note of the reference number in case you have to check on the status of your coupons.

10. Your coupons will arrive in a few short weeks. When they do, you will want to log back on to dtv2009.gov in order to find out where to purchase a digital converter box.

Tips & Warnings

• Give your coupons several weeks to arrive. If they don't, grab your reference number, return to www.dtv2009.gov and click, "Where are my coupons" in the center of your display.
• After your coupons arrive, you must log back on to www.dtv2009.gov and find out what retail outlets will honor them.

Resources

• www.dtv2009.gov

[elyria]

on 2/4/2009 Great instructions!

[cstevens21]

on 11/14/2008 Good stuff...