The FCC told Regent USA that it was liable to forfeit $63,650 for “willful and repeated violations” of rules that prevent the importation and interstate shipment of TV receivers that don’t meet the commission’s rules for DTV reception.
The commission’s DTV tuner requirement adopted in 2002 phased in a timetable by which all new TVs must be capable of receiving DTV signals over the air. Three years later the commission modified the timetable. As part of that action, the commission required that all receivers with screens between 25in and 35in must include DTV tuners by March 1, 2006.
In August 2006, the commission received a complaint that Regent was marketing sets larger than 25in without DTV tuners.
An FCC investigation found the company imported and shipped interstate 2179 non-DTV-compliant TV receivers with screens larger than 25in on 373 occasions and thus issued the Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture.