Comments Due May 14 on FTC’s Proposed Repeal of TV ‘Picture Tube Rule’

The FTC seeks comments by May 14 on its proposal to do away with the “picture tube rule” for marketing TV screen sizes, said a Tuesday NPRM. The FTC in June launched a “regulatory review” of the rule it has had on the books for five decades to prevent deceptive practices in advertising TV screen sizes and to promote uniformity in screen measurement (see 1706220031). In proposing the rule’s repeal, the NPRM said that the regulation “has not kept up with changes in the marketplace” as the industry migrated to flat-panel from CRT sets and that mandatory screen measurement instructions “are no longer necessary to prevent consumer deception.” Staff found TV manufacturers “are not making deceptive screen size claims, which is consistent with the fact that the Commission has not brought any enforcement actions against marketers making such claims in more than 50 years,” it said. CTA, in Aug. 31 comments, argued for the rule’s repeal on grounds that “case-by-case enforcement ... is a much more apt tool than a general rule to address any isolated instances.”