Apr 16, 2008
FCC Fines Analog TV Retailers $3.9 million
Seven major retailers were fined a total of $3.9 million by the FCC for not alerting consumers that some analog television sets they sell are not equipped to deal with the transition to digital-only broadcasting, which Federal law calls for to occur next February.
Current law requires retailers to inform consumers if the analog television sets they are selling do not have the digital converters, which means owners of those TVs will have to purchase a separate converter or pay a service fee (such as cable) to be able to use the sets starting next February.
The FCC stated in its charges that some stores, such as Circuit City had been warned as many as 32 times to comply with the law. After the warnings, follow-up inspections revealed that 25 of their stores were still not properly disclosing that their analog TVs were not equipped with digital converters. The store was then fined $8,000 per set that was not marked.
Sears Holding Corp. received the largest of the seven fines totaling $1 million. Other major retailers fined were: Target Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Fry's Electronics, Comp USA, and Best Buy Co. All the retailers have 30 days to pay or appeal the decisions.
So, beware if planning to purchase a television and check to see if it comes with a digital converter to avoid having to purchase one later.
Current law requires retailers to inform consumers if the analog television sets they are selling do not have the digital converters, which means owners of those TVs will have to purchase a separate converter or pay a service fee (such as cable) to be able to use the sets starting next February.
The FCC stated in its charges that some stores, such as Circuit City had been warned as many as 32 times to comply with the law. After the warnings, follow-up inspections revealed that 25 of their stores were still not properly disclosing that their analog TVs were not equipped with digital converters. The store was then fined $8,000 per set that was not marked.
Sears Holding Corp. received the largest of the seven fines totaling $1 million. Other major retailers fined were: Target Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Fry's Electronics, Comp USA, and Best Buy Co. All the retailers have 30 days to pay or appeal the decisions.
So, beware if planning to purchase a television and check to see if it comes with a digital converter to avoid having to purchase one later.
Post Perma Link posted by TV Overstocks @ 9:51 AM 
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