Retailers want to ensure that viewers of low-power TV stations ca...
Retailers want to ensure that viewers of low-power TV stations can keep getting the signals after the full-power digital transition (CD Feb 12 p2), said Marc Pearl, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition. Electronics stores will sell…
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DTV converter boxes that pass- through analog signals as well as digital broadcasts and will also market splitters, Pearl told us late Monday. Both options will let over-the-air viewers keep getting low-power signals, which aren’t covered by an FCC-imposed transition deadline, after Feb. 17, 2009, he said. The most recent version of the retail coalition’s consumer guide, posted online last week, tells consumers about the low-power broadcasters, said Pearl. “Everyone -- retailers, manufacturers, broadcasters (both full and low power), the FCC and the NTIA -- have an interest in making sure the public is fully informed of their options to help them get through the transition,” he said. But an ad run by low-power stations telling viewers that they must buy a device with an ATSC and NTSC tuner is “misleading,” said Pearl. Those devices can’t be bought with the $40 converter box coupons that the NTIA will send out starting next week and may cost more than $150 or require a new set, he added.