NCTA struck back at Consumer Electronics Retailer Coalition (CERC...

Cable Ready” labels for DTV receivers and instead adopt revised, more descriptive labels favored by cable industry. Accusing CERC of making “an unfortunate knee-jerk reaction to NCTA’s attempt to offer a constructive and pro-consumer labeling proposal,” cable group argued that CERC’s concerns about cable’s labeling proposals were “misplaced” because NCTA “merely has proposed more informative labels for the categories of DTV sets for which the FCC adopted labels.” NCTA also contended that CERC “is mixing apples and oranges” by confusing “the cable industry’s obligations under the navigation devices provisions of the Communications Act with the use of the term ‘cable ready’ in this proceeding.” Finally, NCTA said CERC “misrepresents” findings of cable’s focus group research indicating that consumers “reject the ‘Digital Cable Ready’ labels as inadequate and confusing descriptors of the DTV sets.” Group said CERC, which questioned findings and legitimacy of study, “offers no evidence to the contrary.”