Spike in Coupon Requests, Little Confusion After DTV Test
The largest simulation of the DTV switch prompted a spike in requests to the NTIA for $40 coupons to buy digital converter boxes and the heaviest day of calls to the FCC, but little viewer confusion, said government and industry officials. Thursday’s simulated analog shutoff (CD May 22 p9) took place at several hundred stations in about 130 markets at about the same time in each time zone and will be the last test of this kind, they said. It didn’t produce a large increase in calls to TV stations that took part, broadcast officials said.
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The NTIA got requests Thursday for more than 106,000 coupons, according to figures from the agency. That compares with an average of less than 82,000 coupon requests the three previous days. The volume of orders Thursday was 48 percent higher than the average the latest week that complete figures were available for. “We're certainly making a dent with having so many people request on a single day” coupons, said an NAB spokeswoman. “So we're closing the gap” of people who don’t subscribe to pay-TV and haven’t bought a converter box or gotten a voucher.
The FCC took 55,000 calls to 888-CALL-FCC Thursday, more than it expected and 72 percent more than the previous record day, Jan. 5, said a commission spokesman. “It’s a great result, because we wanted a lot of people to put DTV back on their radar screens,” he said. “When the February 17th date was delayed, a lot of people put it off.” Broadcasters that simulated analog cutoffs prompted viewers who had questions to call the commission.
Half the callers to the FCC Thursday asked about NTIA coupons, the commission said. Some asked how to order them and others how to use expired ones, a commission official said. Fifteen percent expressed “concern about reception issues in their area” and 10 percent wanted to know how to install converter boxes, the FCC said. “This tells us that America’s not yet ready” for the digital switch, the commission spokesman said. “This is evidence that complacency would be our enemy.” Each soft cutoff brought call spikes, and at all times callers got through, though hold times stretched on during busy periods, a commission official said.
Broadcasters that simulated analog cutoffs got 20 calls on average Thursday, most asking how to get a converter box coupon or hook up the device, the NAB spokeswoman said. Ion stations that took part got a “minimal number” of calls, because the NAB-supplied information it ran directed people to 888-CALL-FCC, said Executive Vice President John Lawson. “It was quiet,” he said station officials told him. “No one has reported shortages of boxes or antennas in our markets.”
Thursday’s test bodes well for a smooth switch June 12, when, FCC figures show, 927 full-power stations will end analog service, the NAB official said. “People are calling that number and asking very specific questions,” she said. “They've already made that leap from awareness to action. … We definitely think this is a good sign.”