"The Commission has never previously sought-and the courts have never identified-any Commission jurisdiction over persons or device elements that were not involved in transmitting or receiving a signal," Best Buy writes. But the company insists that the Communications Act limits the agency's authority to matters regarding "communication by wire or radio." It does not give the agency the power to regulate retailers who sell related equipment. Said "Labeling Rule" requires all analog only TVs to display clear statements warning consumers that they will need to purchase a digital converter box after February 17th to receive over-the-air broadcasts.īest Buy concedes that the agency takes its authority from court decisions that say that if a matter is "reasonably ancillary to the effective performance of the Commission’s various responsibilities," the FCC can make rules that have teeth. "The Commission has not claimed any express authorization from Congress to enact the Labeling Rule, and none exists," Best Buy argues.
In Best Buy's May 12th, 41 page response, the retailer throws the book at the FCC's NAL, giving five reasons for its appeal. The agency told Best Buy about the sets, then "after affording Best Buy a reasonable opportunity to respond to the first Citation," FCC staff surveyed the stores again, only to find more unlabeled analog TVs.Ĭircuit City and Sears are also challenging these fines. FCC Enforcement Bureau agents say that they checked numerous Best Buy stores and found analog only TVs on sale without warning labels.
The fined stores included the Sears-Roebuck/K-Mart group, dinged to the tune of $1.096 million Wal-Mart, hit with a $992,000 forfeit and CompUSA, which took the lowest penalty of $168,000.īest Buy received a proposed fine of $280,000. And the appliance giant charges that the Commission's recent Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) holds the company to "a standard of flawless compliance." That's especially unfair, Best Buy complains, given that the FCC's NAL also contains mistakes.Īs Ars has reported, in mid-April the Commission proposed almost $4 million in fines to seven major retailers for "willfully and repeatedly" selling analog-only TV sets without labels that warn consumers that the devices may not work after February 17, 2009-the last day of analog broadcasting. "The Commission never before has claimed, asserted, or exercised direct or ancillary jurisdiction over retailers, or retail practices, of the nature that is asserted" by the FCC, Best Buy attorneys say. "I have so many friends older than me, so I wanted to test it first," he said.The nation's biggest electronics retailer has told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency lacks the authority to punish Best Buy for screwing up its digital transition TV selling rules. Still, Graybill said, "There will be people who are going to turn on their set and get snow and not realize what's happening." Some of Castillo's pals are worried about the change and the technology involved. And they frequently mention the switch in on-screen crawls. Stations have been alerting viewers to the change for a year. A test in December resulted in less than 3,000 calls.
When the local stations conducted a test in October, a phone bank set up to answer questions received 5,000 calls, fewer than expected. reports that the New York metropolitan area is one of the best prepared in the country, with just 3.22% of the 7.43 million homes with televisions unready. … I wanted to save my TV, and I wanted to save my VCR." Now he has one box hooked up and another he's going to give to a friend, who is older.
"I have an RCA TV in perfect condition," he added. "I called them up, they sent me two coupons," Castillo said. 13 several months ago when he saw an announcement of the change. Another 13 million have expired.Ĭastillo said he was watching "This Old House" on Ch. More than 18 million of them have been redeemed. More than 24 million households have requested more than 46 million coupons.