FCC Steps Up DTV Education and Enforcement Efforts
Following on the heels of a letter from Congress urging FCC action on DTV consumer education efforts and a recent study released by the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) about the woeful state of DTV knowledge, the FCC has turned up the heat on its efforts to inform the public about the DTV transition. Today, the Commission released two Consumer Advisories aimed at informing consumers about the transition to digital television. The first, entitled "Buying the Right TV: What Every Consumer Should Know" is available here, and provides a quick-hit introduction to the DTV transition and the Converter Box Coupon Program. The second, available here, is entitled "Closed Captioning for Digital Television" and is aimed at ensuring that consumers continue to have access to closed captioning on their digital television sets.
These consumer education efforts come on the same day that the Commission released several citation letters to on-line electronics retailers, such as Best Buy, RadioShack, and Target, admonishing them for not displaying the required Consumer Alert label displayed on equipment that contained an analog tuner, but not a digital tuner. The citation letters inform the retailers of their labeling obligations and threaten to fine them, as permitted by the statute, for future violations of the labeling requirements.
Given the timing of the FCC's increased activity on the DTV-education front, the efforts appear to be a reaction to a recent inquiry from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. At the end of May, Rep. John Dingell and Rep. Ed Markey sent a letter to the FCC Commissioners urging the Commission to do more to inform consumers about the impeding transition and to take the lead in encouraging all involved actors to pull their weight. A copy of the letter is available here, and suggests that the Commission consider a variety of options, including requiring all cable and satellite systems to include inserts in their bills informing people about the transition, requiring broadcasters to report every 90 days about the number and frequency of PSAs aired about the transition, and requiring manufacturers to include consumer information with new television receivers. The letter also suggests that the Commission require broadcasters to air periodic PSAs or a rolling scroll about the transition. The letter offered numerous suggestions on ways the FCC could use its existing resources to further the DTV transition and educate the public about the looming switch from analog to digital. To that end, the letter requested that Chairman Martin provide the Committee with a detailed plan of action by June 11th.
A recent study released by APTS concludes that the public is ill-informed about the transition and that over-the-air households in particular will be slow to adopt DTV without further efforts by the government and industry. APTS feels that the government has "grossly underfunded" the consumer education aspect of the digital transition and that an information effort akin to that launched for Y2K is called for. Information about the study is available on the APTS website here, and will likely only add to Congress' concern that the FCC is already behind in the race to the finish line on February 17, 2009. We will keep you posted on Chairman Martin's response to the House Committee and his outline of the Commission's plan for ensuring the DTV transition doesn't leave the public behind.
