FCC Okays Order Requiring Analog-Only TV Warnings at Point of Sale
Retailers will be required to post analog-cutoff warnings at point of sale near legacy analog TVs still being sold, under an FCC order approved late Wed. A vote on the order came at 7:24 p.m. ET, soon after the Commission convened an unprecedented evening meeting that had been delayed from a 10:30 a.m. so commissioners could debate behind closed doors about rules for auctioning 700 MHz spectrum.
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Despite the March 1, 2007, order banning interstate shipment or importation of TVs lacking a digital tuner if they have an analog tuner, it has “come to the Commission’s attention that many retailers are continuing to sell analog- only televisions from existing inventory,” said Eloise Gore, asst. chief of the Media Bureau’s Policy Div. Under the new rule, brick & mortar stores, direct-mail merchants and online retailers that “choose to sell” analog-only TVs must post warnings “on or adjacent to” those sets, she said.
The warnings -- called “consumer alerts” -- must be printed in “clear and conspicuous and readily legible type” and say the sets won’t work after Feb. 2009 if not connected to cable, satellite or a DTV converter box, Gore said. As previously reported, the warnings borrow heavily from the wording proposed in HR-608 introduced by Reps. Barton (R- Tex.), Upton (R-Mich.) and Hastert (R-Ill.). But HR-608 has gone nowhere since it was introduced Jan. 22.
The CE Retailers Coalition (CERC) had urged the Media Bureau to impose a reasonable compliance deadline. Whether CERC’s urgings were heeded couldn’t be determined at our Wed. deadline as an effective date wasn’t immediately announced. All 5 commissioners backed the measure, though Democrats Copps and Adelstein suggested the action should have been taken sooner. An analog labeling requirement on retailers is “obviously a good idea” that should have happened earlier in the DTV transition, Copps said: “At least we're doing it now.”
Some 11 million analog-only TVs were sold last year, and despite the March 1 DTV tuner mandate, some 2-1/2 million more will be sold this year, Copps said. Each analog-only set sold is “a ticking time bomb” toward a 2009 analog cutoff being foisted upon an unsuspecting public, he said. If consumers had known about the analog cutoff through warning labels at the point of sale, “how many would have made a different choice” than to buy an analog-only set, he asked. Though no one knows for sure, he thinks it would have been “quite a few,” Copps said.
Copps said he’s “not as sanguine as some” who think CE makers and retailers are doing enough to educate the public about DTV. Referring to the jargon that consumers must master when buying a DTV set, he said a stroll through the average CE retail store exposes shoppers to “more alphabet soup than in a Campbell’s warehouse.”
Adelstein has advocated a labeling requirement for “some time,” he said. He said he’s “thrilled we're finally taking action on this.” But much more public DTV outreach needs to be done, and a labeling order is only one step in the right direction, he said. Comr. Tate also endorsed the labeling rule as a “commonsense” approach. The measure “is not only good for consumers but also for business as well, just in time for graduations and Father’s Day,” she said.