How do I get a converter box?
Digital-to-analog converter boxes started showing up on store shelves in February 2008. There are generally two kinds of converter boxes: Simple, lower-end boxes, costing around $40 to $70, will basically take a digital TV signal and convert it to an analog format that can be viewed on your analog TV set. Higher-end, more expensive boxes may include additional features such as a digital video recorder.
Most of the lower-end boxes can be purchased with a $40 coupon available from the federal government. The government will give two coupons to every household in the U.S. You can register to receive coupons in one of several ways:
1. call 1-888-388-2009 (note that prefix, 888, not 800!). Hearing-impaired callers may dial 1-877-530-2634 (English/TTY) or 1-866-495-1161 (Spanish/TTY).
2. go to this website.
3. write to: DTV Converter Coupon, PO Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208.
4. send a request via fax to 1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632).
Note: When sending a mail or fax request, be sure to include your street address, not PO Box.
Here is a link to a list of coupon-eligible converter boxes. Not all models on this list were available in stores as of this writing (late April 2008).
The Excel file shown below contains a list of all the retailers in Maine that are certified to sell coupon-eligible converter boxes. The Acrobat (.pdf) file below gives a list of coupon-eligible converter boxes, a list of Maine retailers that sell the boxes as well as online and telephone-ordering sources for boxes, and a short list of box manufacturers' toll-free helplines.
attached files: Maine_retailers.xls, Converter Box handout.pdf
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