Reply #56: there are three million coupon requests on hold because the program's funding is screwed up [View All]

[onenote]

So its not just a matter of helping people who haven't been paying attention. Millions of people who have requested coupons have been put on a waiting list. In addition, when the transition occurred in Wilmington NC in September, it went pretty smoothly, but there were still a lot of calls for information from people having trouble getting their boxes to work etc. Extrapolating to a national transition, it is expected that between one and two million people will try calling for assistance. Yet, the outgoing repub chairman of the fcc didn't get around to awarding contracts for call center assistance until a coupld of weeks ago (even though bids were solicited in September).

Its not a question of having symptathy for those who've done nothing. Rather, its a matter of treating those who've taken the necessary steps fairly -- the governmetn subjected them to this and the government screwed up the coupon program and the call centers. People have been woefullly ill-advised about the fact that they should be hooking up their boxes now to see how they work, not wait until the transition actually occurs. The gov also did a poor job of alerting people that because of differences in signal coverage areas, they may need a different antenna than the one they have or may need to reorient the antenna. Again, the government screwed up it up and therefore its appropriate for the government to enact a short delay to try to clean up some of the mess. THere always will be some people who keep their head in the sand. But those who need assistance -- primarily older viewers, lower income families, non-English speakers -- well, I understand the repubs not giving a shit about them. I'm more surprised by the lack of empathy towards them by some DUers.