CERC Consumer Guide Released: ''What You Need to Know About the DTV Transition''; ''A Dozen Questions & Answers''.

WASHINGTON -- The Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) this week released a 3-page Consumer Guide entitled, "What You Need To Know About The 'DTV Transition' - A Dozen Questions & Answers." The Guide is available on the CERC website, www.ceretailers.org. CERC encourages other interested entities to reproduce and distribute the Guide, so long as its content is not modified without CERC's permission. In announcing the Guide's release, CERC Executive Director Marc Pearl said:

"Given all the congressional and FCC activity on the DTV Transition, CERC felt an informative guide should be assembled for consumers based on what is now known about the prospects for analog TV broadcasts to be shut off, and what impact this may have on them. We've tried to put together the answers to the most basic questions and provide our customers with the most accurate and complete information possible. We do not want to mislead consumers by omitting future options or considerations. Unfortunately, there is no way to do this in less than three pages of print, though we would prefer to have a shorter piece with fewer variables."

Pearl observed that CERC's Consumer Guide is necessarily an evolving document, because the Congress still has some important decisions to make. The Guide has been compiled to help consumers to better understand all the possibilities and choices that they currently have, and will have as the DTV Transition process continues.

CERC counsel Robert Schwartz emphasized that the Guide is an informational piece about the legislative and regulatory changes that are in store, but is not directed at influencing those changes. "It is aimed at informing consumers about what is under congressional consideration, and what options they might have when analog broadcasting goes away." Schwartz continued, "CERC has endorsed the passage of legislation to establish a 'hard' transition date that is no later than January 1, 2009, and we might address this goal in other communications to the public. But influencing public or congressional opinion was neither an objective nor a consideration in the preparation of this Consumer Guide."

CERC invites any entity that believes the DTV Transition Consumer Guide is inaccurate in any respect to contact the organization; and if it agrees, CERC will make appropriate revisions for future postings.

About CERC: The Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition is a public policy issue organization consisting of the major specialty retailers of consumer electronics products and retail associations. More information is available at www.ceretailers.org.