If boxes are not produced and on store shelves by January 1, 2008, significant consumer confusion will result.
David K. Rehr, President and CEO, National Association of Broadcasters

In a letter to consumer electronics manufacturers, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) President and CEO David K. Rehr urged both manufacturers and retailers to ensure digital-to-analog converter boxes are available to consumers by January 1, 2008. Rehr said, "If boxes are not produced and on store shelves by January 1, 2008, significant consumer confusion will result.

Rehr said the early availability of the converter boxes is "critical to our collective success."

Rehr reinforced the importance of building and stocking converter boxes in a letter to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association and Marc Pearl, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition.

The deadline for the government mandated transition to digital television (DTV) is February 2009. All analog products shipped since February, 2007 have included a DTV tuner and will not need a converter box.

The Consumer Electronics Association said last year that Americans were adopting digital televisions at an increasingly fast rate. The Association predicted the price of digital televisions would continue to fall, with the average retail price expected to be $819 in 2007, a $224 drop from 2006.

To read the entire letter from Rehr, click here.