The CEA was ‘generally correct’ last week at the FCC when it esti...

But he declined comment on whether LG was among the manufacturers that the CEA said ceased producing converter boxes about a month ago. “We're working with our retailers” to forecast converter-box demand in light of the DTV delay to June 12, said Taylor, whose company markets its own Zenith-brand boxes and supplies Insignia-brand boxes to Best Buy. “That process has been under way for some time.” Predicting demand for a “one-time product” like converter boxes has long been a crapshoot, because no one knows for sure how many antenna-only analog sets are out there, Taylor said. The DTV Delay Act has made forecasting demand “that much more difficult” because it allows consumers whose coupons expired to reapply for replacements, he said. Still, LG, breaking with the CEA, supported the DTV Delay Act, Taylor said. “With sufficient funding, this extension makes sense,” because it gives new opportunity to consumers “who might opt now for a converter box,” he said. It also gives the CE industry more time to promote HDTV sets, which “especially during difficult economic times, represents a tremendous consumer value,” Taylor said.