CEA Responds To FCC Broadcast Flag Ruling

11-Nov-03

The following statement was issued by Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President and CEO Gary Shapiro regarding action by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopting rules--commonly known as the broadcast flag--designed to prevent the mass redistribution of digital broadcast television programming over the Internet. ""We applaud the Commission for establishing a date of July 1, 2005 for products to comply with the broadcast flag requirements, as we had urged. Through this act, the FCC has recognized the real-world product development and manufacturing cycles of digital television (DTV) product manufacturers. ""We continue to urge the Commission and broadcasters to implement the flag in a manner that respects and protects consumers' fair use rights, and we believe some special status should have been given to news and public affairs programming. ""We also urge the FCC and broadcasters to ensure that implementation of the flag does not invalidate the billions of dollars consumers have invested to date in DTV, DVD, VCR and related products. ""The FCC has raised important questions in its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), including the circumstances in which technologies and products relied upon by consumers in good faith might be 'revoked' at the behest of content providers and distributors. In the Report & Order itself, the Commission recognized that adopted security technologies may continue to be considered successful and remain in use even though they may have been compromised. ""As the FCC moves to consider this FNPRM and another on 'Plug & Play' devices, including issues such as 'down-resolution,' we will continue our efforts to defend established home recording and fair use rights and protect products in homes now being bought by American consumers.""For more information about CEA, visit www.ce.org.

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