LCD price-fixing shock

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that four executives from LG Display and Chungwa Picture Tubes have agreed to plead guilty to charges of price-fixing, and all are facing jail time and fines, says APC Mag.

The executives had agreed to charge fixed prices for LCD panels, eliminating any chances of their buyers scoring better prices by setting competitors against each other.

The price-fixing conspiracy apparently occurred between 21 September 2001 through to 1June 2006. The DOJ says in 2006, the global market for TFT-LCD panels was estimated to be worth $70 million (R696 million).

US president-elect Barack Obama's transition co-chairman John Podesta has written a letter to Congress calling for a delay in the switch to digital TV until June, reports TG Daily.

Obama's transition team says the delay is in lieu of the under-funded government coupon programme, and the general feeling that millions of consumers simply aren't ready for the analogue-to-digital TV switch.

"The situation has only grown worse. Mr Obama supports a limited delay so that his administration can have a realistic opportunity to resuscitate and modify the coupon programme," says Podesta.

Hawaii became the first US state to transition to digital television, leading hundreds of confused locals to call into the Federal Communications Commission's help centre, states The Consumerist.

Though the transition appears to have been a technical success, the new digital signals may never reach some of the 20 000 Hawaiians who rely on analogue service.

"Unfortunately for some people, reception is going to be a problem going forward," said VP of KHNL/KFVE-TV John Fink. "There are topographical and transmission issues that we just can't overcome."