Big Box Retailers Fight Back Against FCC's Recent Fines

Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sears are all contesting the FCC’s recent fines against them for not properly following analog transition rules in their stores, reports Ars Technica. Last week, Best Buy submitted a 41-page response (PDF) that claimed among other things that the FCC has no authority to fine them.

Best Buy’s boldest claim is that the FCC “has not claimed any express authorization from Congress to enact the Labeling Rule, and none exist.” In other words, they claim the FCC doesn’t have the authority to force retailers to label all analog TVs with warnings that they will need a digital converter after to receive over-the-air broadcasts after February 17th, 2009.

Additionally, the company claims that its violations were accidents and not “willful” as described by the FCC, and that the FCC’s report contained errors, such as listing a model that doesn’t exist.

“Best Buy: FCC has no power to fine us over analog TVs” [Ars Technica] (Thanks to forgottenpassword!)

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Best Buy’s Response [Ars Technica]
(Photo: Getty Images)

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