Nobody wants to pay $30 more for a TV then they have to. And if the government can do anything about it, it should, said the president of RetireSafe, a senior-rights advocacy group with 400,000 members.

In a letter to the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Committee, RetireSafe urged the FCC to put an end to the price gouging. It believes the claim by Irvine’s Vizio Inc. that  TV makers must pay up to $30 in royalty fees for the ATSC digital TV tuner inside a  TV  (see earlier story, “Vizio TVs could be $30 cheaper“).

“While we, like all consumers, are willing to pay a fair rate for patent licenses, we are not willing to be victim to uncontrolled price gouging. Unfortunately, price gouging has run rampant in the digital conversation [sic] process, and we turn to the FCC to end it. The FCC has an obligation to the American consumer to fix the pricing system by establishing basic rules that make pricing fair and transparent,” wrote Michelle Plasari, president of RetireSafe.

RetireSafe is the first organization to offer support to the Coalition United to Terminate Financial Abuses of the Television Transition, or CUTFATT, which has only Vizio and Westinghouse Digital as members. More supporters and opponents are expected to become public today as the FCC wraps up the comment session for the petition. 

“It’s just an interesting Washington game. Nobody files anything until the last day,” said Amos Snead, CUTFATT’s spokesman.

Vizio joined CUTFATT last year after being inundated with demands to pay royalty fees. While the company worked with some patent holders, the fees surrounding the ATSC digital tuner was the last straw. Vizio said that foreign companies are buying up digital TV patents and demanding excessive fees randomly. Vizio says it is being unfairly targeted because of its success — it went from 2002 start-up to the nation’s top 3 TV brand last year.

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