A top federal regulator on Wednesday called for expanded public education efforts to avoid “hysteria and confusion” around the planned cutoff of traditional analog broadcast TV in less than three years.
The call from Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein came as set makers said new analog TV sets are to be sold with labeling to warn consumers the devices lack the tuner needed to receive over-the-air broadcasts after the envisioned transition to digital TV signals in February 2009. The announcement came from the Consumer Electronics Association, which did not specify a date for the labeling to begin.
Adelstein, speaking to a Washington policy conference organized by the trade group, called for steps including public service announcements, toll-free information lines and direct mail campaigns.
“Now is the time to get serious about educating average Americans about the DTV transition,” Adelstein told a policy conference organized by the Consumer Electronics Association. “We need to avoid confusion and hysteria.”
