I'd imagine that, if any CE company was actually planning to make lower
priced converters they thought might qualify for subsidy, then they
would first try to submit plans to that administering authority and see
if the subsidy would cover it.
Otherwise the thing is so poorly written it's impossible to second guess.
- Tom
----- Original Message ----- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
Funny you mention that. I had not read that specific column, but the Act that allocated the money to this purpose was perhaps not totally well conceived.
Typical of Congress, no? The so-called "85% law", in which I think Congress meant to have the cable companies be the primary "digital to analog" converter for the majority of television households, was equally poorly written so that nobody knows if all subchannels have to be carried, or just the "primary free to air" channel mandated by the rules.
That being said, I cannot really believe that basic ATSC STB functions such as an EPG will disqualify a STB from being subsidized. I also cannot believe that if it has HD outputs and an optical Dolby audio output, as well as a baseband NTSC and modulated RF outputs, it would be disqualified. That's more or less basic to all boxes.
PIP, dual tuners, built in PVR, DVD burner, etc. may be features that Congress didn't want to subsidize, but an EPG? C'mon!
John
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