Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America Survey Overstates Over-the-Air Television Viewership, Relies on Inaccurate Assumptions Says CEA; CEA Stands By Its Numbers, Remains Committed to Providing Accurate and Sound Data.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The following statement was issued today by Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Vice President, Technology Policy, Michael Petricone regarding a study released today by the Consumers Union (CU) and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) on current consumer reliance on over-the-air (OTA) television:

"The study issued today by the Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America inexplicably neglects to ask consumers the key question facing policymakers: how many sets in U.S. households solely rely on an antenna to receive television programming.

"The survey appears to assume that any TV not connected to cable or satellite is connected to a broadcast antenna. In fact, as our most recent (May 2005) survey found, a minimum of 31 million sets are not connected to broadcast antennas and are used exclusively for video games, DVDs or other purposes. For this reason, the CU and CFA survey appears to significantly overstate the number of televisions used to view OTA broadcasting.

"CEA stands firmly by our survey and the data we have presented to Congress. Our data is extremely comprehensive - unlike the CU/CFA survey, we asked about the specific usage of each individual set in a household. We also limited our survey to TVs in the household that had been used at some point within the prior three months, thereby allowing us to have an accurate, real world analysis of TVs that are in use.

"The facts are clear: fewer and fewer consumers rely on OTA to receive television programming. The actual survey questions and results are important because they indicate the potential cost of proposed programs to minimize the viewer impact of the analog cutoff. We are glad to provide CEA's complete survey documents and offer to further analyze the data in any way that assists Congress in developing proposals to minimize viewer impact. We remain committed to our lengthy history of providing accurate and sound data to policymakers, the technology industry and the financial community."

About CEA:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry through technology policy, events, research, promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA represents more than 2,000 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of audio, video, mobile electronics, wireless and landline communications, information technology, home networking, multimedia and accessory products, as well as related services that are sold through consumer channels. Combined, CEA's members account for more than $121 billion in annual sales. CEA's resources are available online at www.CE.org, the definitive source for information about the consumer electronics industry.

CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES - Defining Tomorrow's Technology. All profits from CES are reinvested into industry services, including technical training and education, industry promotion, engineering standards development, market research and legislative advocacy.

UPCOMING EVENTS


--  CEA Summer Technology & Standards Forum
    July 25-29, 2005,  Denver, CO

--  CEA Industry Forum
    October 17-19, 2005, Las Vegas, NV

--  EHX Fall
    November 7-11, 2005, Anaheim, CA

--  2006 International CES - Defining Tomorrow's Technology
    January 5-8, 2006, Las Vegas, NV

--  Winter Summit 2006
    March 2-4, 2006, Vail, CO

--  CEA Winter Technology & Standards Forum
    March 6-10, 2006, Clearwater Beach, FL

--  EHX Spring 2006
    March 28 - April 1, 2006, Orlando, FL