Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Others Fined Over Digital TV Notices

Ian Lamont writes "The FCC has fined 11 retailers and television manufacturers for violating rules relating to the 2009 digital TV transition. Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, Sears, Kmart, and Wal-Mart supposedly failed to place notices near analog-only TV sets warning customers that the sets did not have digital tuners. In part, the required notice reads: '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. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products.' The fines total $6.6 million."

Comments

Re:And will any of this $$$...

[cdrudge]

Those are UK Freeview tuners. Which are cheaper specifically because they do not receive HD. The US went for HD from the start, which costs more initially, but it also means that we won't have to toss out a bunch of electronics all over again to maybe get HD by 2012, like will happen in the UK. Some of us have been getting HD for over four years now.

DTV != HDTV. The cheap or free tuners (after coupon) are not high definition, they are only standard. The US is switching over to a digital television...which just happens to include some high definition programming.

Re:Just the cost of doing business

[hymie!]

if you cost ANY company 6.6 million your ass would be fired and there would be hell to pay. RTFA. The fines (plural) total $6.6 million. The largest fine (for a merchant) was $1.1 million