May 12, 2008
We Can’t Get Competition But We Can Fine Like Rabbits
Value City and Toy’s r Us have been fined $216k and $248K respectively for failure to place stickers on analog TV sets that they won’t operate next February. You have to sell a heck of a lot of TV’s to overcome the loss of revenue from these kind of foopahs. Clearly the stores were not following the rules which at this point are pretty clear. Most of the retail industry is well aware of the requirements.
Target question is — will those fined sue if the Commission has to delay for 6 months to a year when the DTV transition blows up in their face? My other question is why has the Commission not banned the importation of analog sets and driven the fines up the food chain? These retailers are getting the TV’s from somewhere right?
Comments on We Can’t Get Competition But We Can Fine Like Rabbits »
admin @ 12:30 pm
The only reason that will cause a delay is if broadcasters lobby for it. At least with the big broadcasters and PBS, I don’t see than happening. Most who have DTV up and running have pulled the analog gear, making a roll back impossible.
The is still a ton of product in the retail channel. The FCC goofed badly by not imposing a hard cut off date on manufacture of analog only sets much sooner.
The entire retail industry is aware of the issue. Tagging product slows sales of product that will not sell at all in a few months. This is what is driving “ignorance”
Lost Cause | @ 1:02 pm
[…] reported the ongoing efforts by the FCC to have analog sets properly labeled as part of the DTV transition. […]