FTC Orders Company to Pay $650,000 for TV Antenna Deception

The FTC ordered Wellco to pay $650,000 in a settlement over allegations it deceived consumers about TV antenna products, the agency announced Monday. Wellco and its CEO, George Moscone, violated the FTC Act by “making deceptive performance claims” for “over-the-air television antennas and related signal amplifiers,” commissioners alleged 4-0. The complaint was filed with U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. The company used “deceptive consumer endorsements” and misrepresented some of its own webpages as "objective news reports about the antennas,” the agency said. An FTC order imposed a $32 million judgment against the company, which will be suspended if the defendants pay $650,000 to the commission, “based on their inability to pay the full judgment,” the FTC said. An attorney for the defendant didn’t comment.