Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America (MDEA) said it is dropping its objections to the regulation issued by the FCC last summer that requires the phase-in of ATSC digital tuners in televisions and other products.
The company said it decided to drop its objections “in light of the FCC's positive reception and aggressive timetable for public comment and decision-making” on the recently negotiated National “Plug and Play” Digital Cable Agreement.
“As we stated in our objections to the FCC Digital Tuner Mandate, to saddle 67 percent of consumers with the cost of an integrated digital tuner that has no national cable compatibility would place a terrible burden on the average consumer, considering that less than 15 percent of consumers use antennas,” said Robert A. Perry, vice president, marketing at MDEA.
“But now that it appears that the FCC is aggressively moving forward with the recent agreement between the cable and consumer electronics industries, it seems appropriate to recognize the progress. Provided we can give the American public a national ‘Plug and Play’ cable standard complete with encoding rules to ensure ‘Fair Use’ home recording rights, a digital tuner mandate is a reasonable approach to speeding the DTV transition for all Americans.”
For more information visit www.mitsubishi-tv.com.
