As TV Goes Digital, Some Viewers May Be in the Dark

Sean Venable, who lives at St. Mary's Court in D.C., is worried his coupon for a TV converter box might expire before St. Mary's decides whether to hook up cable for residents. (By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)
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Margaret Pully, executive director of St. Mary's Court, a District community for low-income seniors, said she's looking into subsidizing cable service for the building but is concerned it would still be too expensive for most of the 150 residents, who live on an average of about $10,000 a year. She said she has also considered installing a new roof-top antenna to boost reception of digital signals, but that would cost about $14,000.

"TV is their lifeline to the world. Apparently it's not a free thing anymore," she said. "This is certainly an expense we weren't expecting."

A $1.5 billion federal program has been set up to provide $40 coupons to help pay for the converter boxes, which cost $60 to $120 at stores such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart. But 73 percent of older consumers don't know about the program, according to a Consumers Union survey of 1,013 people. And some living in larger communities or group homes many not be eligible because of the program's limit of two vouchers per household.

The District of Columbia Health Care Association, which oversees 16 nursing homes, is starting to evaluate the options for residents, many of whom use older TV sets in their rooms. Veronica Damesyn Sharp, the association's executive director, said some residents are too frail to go to the common room to watch the buildings' main TVs, which are hooked up to cable. And many cannot afford to buy a new TV or a converter box, let alone get cable service.

Sharp says she's worried some residents may not qualify for a coupon because they live at the same address. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency within the Commerce Department administering the coupon program, requested approval to change the eligibility rules, but the process could take up to three months.

The Federal Communications Commission, which is leading education efforts about the transition, has been sponsoring workshops geared toward specific demographics. Of the more than 4,000 presentations the staff has given around the country, about 3,000 of them have been at senior centers, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said. He said the FCC is also working with the U.S. Administration on Aging to get the word out. Congress gave the agency about $2.5 million to fund education efforts, but Martin has requested an additional $20 million.

Broadcasters have committed about $1 billion to educating consumers about the transition, while the cable industry has said it will spend about $200 million over the next year.

But FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps is critical of the U.S. efforts, saying Britain has spent far more on door-to-door education during its own transition.

"We're lacking that general coordination and sense of purpose to get it done," he said. "People are going to start to get super-alarmed and panicked."

Debra Berlyn, a consultant for AARP, said there is also concern that older consumers might be vulnerable to sales pitches for new, expensive TVs instead of the cheaper converter-box option. AARP has reached out to organizations that make house calls such as Meals on Wheels to solicit volunteers to help seniors with the new equipment.

Sean Venable, 64, has already received his coupon for a converter box. But it expires after 90 days, and he's not sure if St. Mary's Court, his home, will have decided by then whether to hook up cable for the residents. "It's a catch-22," he said.

Tonie Navarin, 86, who lives alone in Arlington, ordered two coupons for converter boxes but is holding off on buying them.

"I may not even be alive by the time this thing happens!" Navarin said jokingly. "I hate to spend $800 on a new TV when these are perfectly good. I just don't think it's fair."