FTC Opens New Review on 'Continuing Need' for 51-Year-Old 'Picture Tube Rule'

​The FTC is launching a “regulatory review” of the “picture tube rule” it has had on the books for five decades to prevent deceptive practices in advertising TV screen sizes and promote uniformity in screen measurement, the agency said in a Thursday notice soon to be published in the Federal Register. Though tube TVs to which the rule originally applied are virtually extinct in the U.S., the rule has remained intact and largely unchanged since its birth in 1966. The FTC last sought comment in an April 2005 notice on whether to change or update the rule to account for the industry’s migration to widescreen flat-panel TVs, but decided in a follow-up notice eight months later to keep the rule “in its current form.” In its new review, the agency seeks comments by Aug. 31 on whether there's a “continuing need” for the rule, and if so, which of its provisions should be changed or eliminated. The agency also wants to know if there are “unfair or deceptive practices” not covered by the rule “relating to the advertising and promotion of the viewable picture size” of TV screens, it said. It also seeks comments on whether it should “broaden” the rule to include products “not currently covered,” it said.