The National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department issued a statement yesterday, telling America to order discount coupons for converter boxes by Dec. 31.

Don't wait that long.

The NTIA news release was geared toward the national digital television transition on Feb. 17, 2009, but Hawaii is going a month early, at noon Jan. 15.

The DTV Web site set up by local broadcasters notes that “;coupon processing takes a minimum of three weeks.”;

Then it has to get to you via mail, though coupons are now being mailed to Hawaii first-class, rather than third-class, as was the case before.

Once you receive the $40 discount coupon you have to find a retailer that sells converter boxes, preferably with analog-pass-through if you watch any low-power stations. You must then hook a box up to each analog TV that does not receive cable or satellite service and make sure it is set up properly.

The NTIA announced yesterday that more than 11,200 over-the-air households in Hawaii have requested coupons. That's about 49 percent of Hawaii's OTA households, it said.

Checking his latest figures from the NTIA, Hawaii Association of Broadcasters President Chris Leonard told TheBuzz that as of Sunday, more than 45,000 coupon requests have been received and that more than 10,000 coupons have been redeemed.

“;The redemption rate jumped significantly last week,”; when Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was in the islands speaking at public outreach events, as were FCC staffers.

Requests and redemptions are nearly doubling week-over-week, Leonard said, so that in the last four weeks, 11,315 coupons have been requested. “;A lot of those probably aren't here yet; some are just starting to arrive.”;

Of the coupons that have already been received by Hawaii TV viewers, “;nearly 1,000 were redeemed last week alone,”; he said.

Broadcasters encourage viewers to hook up converter boxes immediately. Viewers on Oahu can scan for digital signals, but for households on Maui and the Big Island “;the channel scan won't do any good yet.”;

All over-the-air households will need to have their converter boxes rescan for digital signals after noon on transition day, because many stations' designated channels will change with the transition.

FCC staff members are in Hawaii and can answer technical questions and arrange for help in converter box set-up in many cases. They can be reached at 541-2389 or 541-2390 or via e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).