Digital television switch drawing near

September 8 is fast approaching. For people in our area, that means the digital TV conversion.

Converter box program organizers say they have distributed nearly 50,000 coupons in our market alone.

The next step is to cash in your coupon for the converter box.

Consumer educator from the TV Converter Box Program Tony Wilhem says people need to get their boxes sooner rather than later, to allow enough time for troubleshooting.

He says Wilmington is well on its way to prepare for the big day.

“If you want to get a converter box, and you are one of these over the air households, and again, there aren’t a huge number of them in the Wilmington market, people need to go ahead and act immediately, because it takes about three weeks to ship those coupons out to you, so the clock is ticking for those who haven’t acted yet,” said Wilhem.

If you still use rabbit ears and don’t get a converter box, come September 8 your set will not work.

Wilhem says it is important to request coupons now, because it takes three weeks to mail them out.