FCC puts the squeeze on retailers - $3,928,000 in fines for selling TVs that won't work next year.

By
Andrew
on April 10, 2008 2:00 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
(editor's note: the AP picked up on this hours after we did. We watch the FCC so you don't have to.)



Despite canceling their meeting today, the Commissioners did manage to do what they love most - issuing fines.  While these aren't quite as...sexy...as those levied against various broadcasters for showing glimpses of buttocks or televising Bono, they actually serve a purpose - to punish big box retailers who have been selling TVs that won't receive digital signals, or not properly labeling them as such.

One of the biggest problems we have with our DTV transition is that marketers rolled out HDTV years ago, and to most consumers, DTV and HDTV are the same thing, and they see HDTV as a luxury item. So, there has been a real problem getting people to buy new sets as manufacturers have cut back on making CRTs and increased production of plasma and LCD TV's, again considered luxury items. 

Still, they've been selling regular ol' TV boxes that don't have built in digital tuners to consumers who don't want to pay the extra for the "new flatness" while neglecting to mention that they'll be useless without a converter box in (as of this writing) 313 days. 

Thankfully, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau employs "secret shoppers" who patrol the mean aisles of the big box stores to make sure that evildoers in blue polo shirts get their just desserts...or at least the management does.

To that end, today the Commission has fined seven retailers for a total of $3,928,000. The breakdown goes as follows:

Sears, Roebuck, K-Mart $1,096,000 

Wal-Mart Stores/Sam's West $992,000 

Circuit CityStores $712,000 

Fry's Electronics $384,000 

Target Corporation $296,000 

Best Buy Co. Inc. $280,000 

CompUSA, Inc. $168,000 


Total:     $3,928,000


Of course, this means nothing in the larger context of the looming disaster next February when grandma, having failed to go to notice the poster at the Post Office or the DMV, turns on her favorite set to get...nothing.

I still haven't received my converter box coupon yet, either. On the other hand, I don't complain when the Big Boxes get kicked in the tail, either.

Finally, an FCC action that I can smile about.

Update: that AP report has some reactions from the Big Boxes:

Sears -- fined for 15 of its stores, its Web site and 20 Kmart stores -- said in an e-mail statement that it was "surprised" by the FCC's action and had eliminated analog inventory from its stores last fall and will soon offer converter boxes.

The company said it hasn't decided whether to appeal or pay the fine.

Best Buy, which was fined for 18 stores selling various models of analog-only equipment, said it was "extremely disappointed" by the FCC's action to what it called a "relatively small number of instances."

"Best Buy voluntarily pulled all analog-only tuner products from our stores on Oct. 1, 2007, in a proactive effort to prevent confusion and to help jump start consumer awareness," the company said in an e-mailed statement.

The company said it did not believe it violated the FCC rule "in any willful or repeated manner."

Wal-Mart spokeswoman E.R. Anderson said in a statement that all the products sold by the company comply with FCC regulations. Wal-Mart has "voluntarily invested millions of dollars in new technology, training, new product and consumer education" for the transition, she said.

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