Dealers Slow to Comply With FCC DTV Labeling Order, Spot Check Finds
Few stores complied the first day with an FCC order to post warnings near analog TVs, VCRs and DVD recorders that they won’t work after the 2009 DTV deadline, according to our spot check in the N.Y. area Fri. The Commission won’t say for the record how it plans to enforce the requirement (CD April 26 Special Report).
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Anyone selling or renting an analog-only TV, VCR or DVD recorder must post this “consumer alert” on or near the product at point of sale: “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.” But visits to N.Y.-area stores by our affiliate Consumer Electronics Daily found those warnings missing for the most part. Surprising was the scarcity of analog-only TVs for sale in many locations. But VCRs and DVD recorders were another story. At Best Buy’s midtown Manhattan store, like most others, no consumer alerts adorned the extensive selection of DVD recorders and VCR/DVD player combos for sale -- all with analog-only tuners.
Meanwhile, CE makers authorized to submit test reports and production samples of coupon-eligible converter boxes (CECBs) should send test data electronically to speed processing, according to NTIA guidelines released Fri. to help companies get their boxes certified for the program. NTIA “encourages manufacturers to submit test reports that demonstrate that each model proposed to be a CECB meets all the performance specifications and features, it said.
NTIA and FCC will test “some or all” of the production line samples against the test data that applicants provide, NTIA said: “The level of testing will be based on engineering judgments during the review of the test report.”
CE makers won’t be allowed to put NTIA’s logo on the CECB itself or on product packaging, according to NTIA replies to frequently asked questions, posted Fri. Nor will they be allowed to say a CECB is U.S.-govt.-approved, NTIA said.