Representatives of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (...

CERC officials visited the FCC with evidence gleaned from visits to Best Buy, Circuit City and Tweeter stores in the Washington area to show the CE industry already was promoting DTV effectively to consumers and doing a good job educating the public about its benefits. In a the recent visit to the FCC, CERC came armed with hundreds of pages of photocopied newspaper ads, point-of-sale materials, Internet web pages and training manuals to support the claim that mandatory labeling rules would “detract” from “the voluntary efforts now under by consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers” to promote DTV, the ex parte said. In particular, the filing said, “the information available to consumers from the Internet, including from CERC members, is detailed and voluminous.” It quoted an unidentified CERC-member store manager, who helped compile the material for presentation to the FCC, as saying that consumers typically come into the store “with a sheaf of printouts from the Internet” when shopping for an HDTV receiver. CERC told the FCC staff its members were willing to work “proactively” with the Commission, manufacturers and program distributors “to continue to enhance and augment their promotional, educational and training efforts” as an alternative to mandatory labeling, the filing said. “CERC members will commit and offer to work with the Commission and others to provide the best available information to consumers with respect to the DTV transition and relevant products and services.”