Wal-Mart Fined $1 Million for Improperly Selling Non-Digital TVs
It's a digital age, that's for sure, and in February of next year, one of the last bastions of analog, over-the-air television, will go entirely to 1s and 0s. If you have an old TV still kicking around, you can get a converter box, but according to FCC rules, retailers are no longer allowed to sell new, non-digital televisions without some rather prominent warnings.
Faced with stockrooms full of the things it's no surprise that some retailers have been caught bending the rules a bit, with Wal-Mart being one of the worst offender, picking up a $992,000 fine.
The mega-retailer was far from the only one. Sears was hit with a $1.1 million fine and Circuit City for $712,000, while Best Buy got off relatively lightly with only a $280,000 fine. All that for apparently trying to clear out their inventory of old sets without warning shoppers about their imminent obsolescence.
No word yet on whether the fines will be paid to those shoppers who didn't get the info they were supposed to receive (unlikely), but if you were one of those unwitting buyers don't fear: The coupons the government is handing out for converter boxes should mean upgrading your set won't cost you too much.
From Reuters
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SIC TR4NSIT @ Apr 11th 2008 7:53PM
What makes me mad is how these places are telling people that even though they have cable, even if they have a cable box, that they still need to get a new TV. Most of the time they dont even mention the box. I know a few elderly people that have been duped by shady salesmen. You only need a box if you get OTA stations on your non HiDef Tv. Plain and simple.
mung @ Apr 12th 2008 2:17AM
All that for apparently trying to clear out their inventory of old sets without warning shoppers about their imminently obsolescence.
"Imminently obsolescence"?
Whoever gets paid to write this garbage should have to pay us for reading it.
Viakenny @ Apr 13th 2008 11:02AM
here in Brazil, analog switchoff won't happen until 2016, and digital broadcasts only started last December.
but digital boxes cost, in average, 800 reais (which is just around 470 dollars), which is too much.
and there were supposed to be lots of tax incentives for those boxes (in a country where, for many products, half or more of the price are taxes)