Digital TV Facts: The Latest

The FCC issued citations to four more large retailers Thursday, saying they failed to display appropriate “consumer alert” notices near analog-only TVs offered for sale on their web sites earlier this month.

Amazon.com, Sears, J&R and Fry’s received the latest warnings. According to Broadcasting & Cable’s John Eggerton, “hundreds of citations” may be on the way for these and other stores. Since May 31, FCC citations have also been issued to Kmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and CompUSA.

The required consumer alerts warn purchasers that conventional TVs not equipped with digital tuners will need a DTV converter box to receive over-the-air broadcasts after February 17, 2009.

Here’s what struck me: One of the seven models listed in the citation letter to Amazon was a Syntax Olevia 32-inch LCD flat panel, model LT32HVE. Amazingly, the same model number appeared in a list of TVs manufactured by Syntax-Brillian that the FCC says were imported and shipped in violation of the digital tuner mandate. So what we have, apparently, is a chain of rule-breaking extending from manufacturer to retailer. In the end, consumers who don’t know about the DTV transition are being harmed. It’s heartening to see the FCC take action.

The commission warned retailers to expect fines of up to $11,000 a day, limited to $97,500 per violation, for any future breach of its analog TV labeling rules.

Critics portray the digital TV adapter coupon program as “TV welfare” and a drain on the federal treasury. But if the FCC uncovers enough violations, who knows—the digital transition could turn into a profit center. They clearly need one, too, now that Cher can say the F word for free. Anyway, the enforcement bureau found a consumer-friendly way to usher in this new era, closing out the uniquely memorable week in which Chairman Kevin Martin managed to put the F back in FCC.

• Link: B&C

In your exurb, do the big boxes properly label their dwindling, outdated stock of analog TVs? If they don’t display the FCC’s warning about what the digital transition will mean for old-style television sets come 2009, they can expect a federal citation:

The FCC has warned K-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and CompUSA, or essentially an A-list of the major electronics retailers, that if they don’t start placing the…warning “in close proximity” to analog-only sets, even those sold online, the stores will face an $11,000-per-day fine, up to $97,000.

(A point of order: If Kmart is so A-list, why do they keep taking their name off of buildings?)

The regulation does not sound exceptionally difficult to comply with, and I will be interested to see the number of violations. Of course, when a chain has hundreds of stores, they are bound to miss a few TVs. Miss more than that, and you’re abusing your customers. Remember, the FCC warnings were instituted on pretty short notice—but only after large retailers had long said that a federal regulation was unnecessary, then failed to carry out the industry’s voluntary warning program.

It was my impression that Best Buy had a deadline of May 1, 2007, for ditching their analog TVs. As I recall, I acquired that impression after a Best Buy exec testified before Congress about it.

• Link: Broadcasting & Cable

The FCC will require labeling of analog-only TV sets, warning consumers of the demise of analog broadcasts after February 17, 2009. The commission’s unanimous action comes after some stores—including the largest consumer-electronics chain, Best Buy—ignored voluntary labeling efforts advocated by industry groups.

The FCC’s delay in mandating labels accomplished something, though: It gave retailers time to clear out their inventory of old-style TVs, Digital TV Primer notes:

So what we have is the FCC acting a couple of years too late after realizing they had been snookered by TV industry promises that they would label voluntarily. Yeah, right!

Here’s how the signage will read:

Consumer Alert

This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after February 17, 2009, to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the Nation’s transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322) or visit the Commission’s digital television website at: www.dtv.gov.

Earlier:
• TV labeling for digital shift falls short
• Analog TVs get warning labels under voluntary industry program

• Links: FCC [pdf], DTV Primer

Best Buy is still selling analog TVs without labels warning of the switch in 2009 to digital broadcasts. The largest U.S. electronics retailer could hinder the DTV transition in another way, too: Best Buy declined, in Congressional testimony today, to commit to stocking set-top converter boxes in all of its stores.

If you buy an old-style analog TV from Best Buy today, you’ll need a converter box to continue receiving over-the-air TV after Feb. 17, 2009. But according to Best Buy, it seems, that’s your problem.

We need a labeling law.

• Link: Broadcasting & Cable

More than a few consumers are still buying old-school analog TVs, and many don’t realize the sets will no longer receive over-the-air signals as of 2009. The nation’s dominant big-box electronics chains are falling short when it comes to informing consumers about the switch to digital broadcasts:

According to a survey of two leading electronics retailers conducted by National Journal’s Insider Update, only 3 percent of sets for sale at Best Buy included notices about the 2009 change. The comparable number was 33 percent for Circuit City.

Also, warning labels for analog TVs, under a voluntary program for manufacturers spearheaded by the Consumer Electronics Association, had yet to reach the surveyed stores.

Given the limited government funding dedicated to informing consumers about the transition to digital TV, retailers and manufacturers—and broadcasters—need to intensify their efforts, and quickly.

• Link: National Journal

The obligation to inform consumers about the digital TV transition appears to have been taken to heart in the working draft of the Senate telecom bill. Plans for mandatory labels on analog TV sets, consumer education and outreach, toll-free hotlines—quite extensive, really. (Another mandate: A digital-TV web site. If you can imagine such a thing.) Color me impressed.

Broadcasters would even be required to air PSAs twice daily, warning viewers of the cutover to digital TV. When will the announcements be shown?

Each day from July 17, 2009, through February 17, 2009…

So, if I read the schedule right, the commercials will commence after analog broadcasts have ceased (how will anyone see them?), and will run backwards for five months .

OK, so it is a draft…

Analog TVs may come with warning labels, under a voluntary program announced by the Consumer Electronics Association. The text would read:

Notice: This TV has only an ‘analog’ broadcast tuner so will require a converter box after February 17, 2009 to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna, because of the nation’s transition to digital broadcasting on that date, as required by Federal law. (It should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV systems, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players and similar products.)

It’s not Hemingway, but it’s a start.

If Congress protected consumers instead of corporations, the labeling requirement would be mandatory. I salute the trade group for its efforts. Let’s hope manufacturers follow through and add prominent labels to analog TVs and retail packaging. For a more effective labeling program, two more steps are required:

1. The label’s language concerning cable TV should be modified. According to Consumers Union, “tens of millions of cable customers are unlikely to receive local broadcasts without expensive digital cable boxes.” That’s because the digital TV law does not authorize cable companies to downconvert digital broadcasts to analog.

2. Retailers should add warning labels to their existing inventory of analog TVs.

• Links: CEA press release, CU press release