$40 Off Your Digital Conversion Box Courtesy Of Uncle Sam

Welcome back, lovely readers! You know, even though the Holidays are technically over, that doesn’t mean the good times are over! Now is when the retailers have some of the best sales around, trying to rake in a few more dollars to add to the bottom line. From my experience, a lot of retailers don’t even close off their fiscal years until Jan. 31 and consider the Holiday Shopping Season to run through Jan. 15. People have gift cards to spend and stores have product to liquidate, it’s a happy union of capitalism!

Well, the U.S. Government wants to do it’s part in helping along this shopping phenomena by offering $40-off coupons to shoppers! That’s right, $40 off your next shopping trip, courtesy… wait, what? Oh, you mean it’s not for whatever you want to use it for? So I can only use it to buy a special conversion box for my ancient TV? I mean, that’s cool and all, but I was kind of hoping to put it toward a TV Tuner that works, but whatever...

Actually, the Government started offering its $40 coupons to help America transition into the looming Analog to Digital conversion of the airways. The coupons can be redeemed toward purchasing a set-top conversion box for any old, non-digital TV that still receives it’s signal over-the-air. Each household can claim two coupons, and the expected retail price of the conversion boxes is around $70-$120.

If you currently have Cable or Satellite TV, this really doesn’t concern you, but if your grandma is still using those rabbit ears to watch Oprah, you may want to head on over the Government site and apply for the coupon. Basically, the program is first-come-first-served and on an honor system, so just sign up for it and you should be good to go. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to also get in line for my government cheese.

Government offers TV coupons [CNN]