Digital TV Effort Sends Wrong Signal, Group Says

Sofa spuds deserve better.

So says a coalition of consumer advocates and academics that Thursday blasted a federal campaign that the group complained encouraged Americans to acquire an expensive breed of digital boob tubes.

“Do you really believe that with all the troubles facing our nation, the federal government should be on a crusade to encourage people to buy costly new television sets?” the Commercial Alert coalition wrote to federal lawmakers.

Portland, Ore.-based Commercial Alert charged that “television is a major public health problem” and called on Congress to pull funding for the Federal Communications Commission campaign, called “DTV: Get It!”

The government has mandated that broadcasters switch from traditional analog TV signals to higher-quality digital transmissions. According to the FCC, “Get It!” is aimed only at helping people prepare.

Although the switch will allow sharper pictures and enhanced programming, it will also require viewers to shell out $1,000 to $7,000 to buy sets capable of receiving the signals.

This has consumer advocates like Gary Ruskin fuming, as does an FCC website -- www.dtv.gov -- which includes a shopper’s guide and links to digital TV program listings under a banner that reads “Tomorrow’s TV Today.”

“This is an effort to sell fancy TV sets,” said Ruskin, who organized the coalition that includes a former FCC commissioner, college professors and heads of advocacy groups.

Instead of hiding the remote, FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell “is encouraging people to be couch potatoes,” Ruskin said. Americans already spend an average of 4 1/2 hours a day in front of the tube -- part of a sedentary lifestyle that has obesity rates on the rise.

An FCC spokesman responded by e-mailing a quote from Powell, who had fielded similar criticism at a news conference Monday to unveil the campaign. “This is not about selling television sets,” Powell said. “This is about helping consumers who choose to buy television sets make the most informed decision in a transition mandated by the government.”

To be sure, Washington has some skin in the game. Once broadcasters switch over to digital, the government can auction the old analog frequencies to cable, wireless and cellphone service companies for as much as $70 billion.