Reject CE’s ‘Delay Plan’ on DTV Tuner Mandate, NAB Urges FCC

NAB Pres. Edward Fritts accused CEA member companies of continuing to sell millions of analog TV sets each year but “refusing to tell consumers that these sets will soon be obsolete or need converters to work in the digital era.” Fritts said the time has come “for CEA to stop perpetuating this fraud on the American consumer.”

CEA has urged the Commission to scrap the July 1, 2005, deadline by which 50% of 25-36” sets must have DTV tuners built in. Under the existing tuner mandate, all such sets must have DTV tuners by July 1, 2006; CEA has proposed moving up that deadline to March 1, 2006. It said the experience selling TVs 36” and larger after the 50% compliance deadline last July 1 proved sets with DTV tuning built in were at a significant price disadvantage vs. those without such functionality.

CEA has said granting the petition would advance the DTV transition by expediting delivery of the most-popular mid-size TV receivers equipped with DTV tuners. It was joined in that argument Mon. by Best Buy, Circuit City, RadioShack and Wal-Mart, which filed identical comments supporting the CEA petition. All are members of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, which filed the petition jointly with CEA. Samsung also filed in support of the CEA petition.

But NAB’s Fritts -- whose group was to file comments jointly with MSTV later Mon. to fight the petition -- said in a statement that if CEA’s stated goal was to speed the DTV transition, “the last thing it should be seeking is a delay only to sell more analog TV sets.” Instead of adopting CEA’s plan, Fritts said, the FCC should consider moving up a year its requirement that 100% of TVs shipped after July 1, 2007, have DTV tuners.

Fritts said the DTV transition will make CEA member companies beneficiaries of “the greatest transference of wealth in the history of consumer electronics.” Yet Fritts said CEA “has consistently thrown roadblocks” to the transition by fighting the DTV tuner mandate, first at the Commission and later in an unsuccessful suit at the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C., that sought to have the mandate thrown out.

Disney and the Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS) also opposed the CEA petition in separate comments, but with language considerably milder than NAB’s. Disney said at a time when many policy-makers are discussing a date certain for an analog TV shutoff as early as Dec. 2006, “it seems inconsistent for the Commission even to consider delaying any aspect of the transition for set manufacturers. Moreover, to the extent that policy-makers are debating the creation of a subsidy program for converter boxes for analog TV sets, delaying any of the DTV tuner deadlines will only add to the potential scope of such subsidy programs.”

Repealing the July 2005 50% deadline on 25-36” sets, as CEA has asked, seems unwise, Disney argued. Without such a deadline, Disney said, “a large number of analog- only sets will likely be sold during the holiday season and during January (pre-Super Bowl), the time period that’s widely known as when the vast majority of television sets are sold. If the Commission is to consider the full range of options available to it - and if it concludes there are legitimate concerns with the 50%/100% requirements - then the Commission should consider further accelerating the 100% benchmark so that it falls in advance of the holiday selling season to prevent legacy problems at a later point.”

APTS said it “supports the retention of the current deadlines and believes that the required introduction of DTV tuner capability in these sets will encourage new over-the-air reception among consumers.” In light of FCC estimates that only 2 million or fewer households have DTV sets with an integrated tuner, APTS said it “remains concerned that a substantial loophole exists in Commission rules, to the extent that consumers are encouraged to purchase monitors without any tuner whatsoever. Current evidence therefore indicates that it is too early to start rolling back the tuner requirement deadlines.” Moreover, it suggested “appropriate modifications” to the DTV tuner mandate rules might be warranted if reports are true that “even those sets with required ATSC tuners may be lacking ATSC decoders required to achieve full over-the-air reception capability.” APTS said if such practices are occurring, “this surely would violate the spirit and intent of the regulation as passed.”