Kohler -- the largest supplier of toilets, faucets and bathtubs in the United States -- is seeking a waiver from a Federal Communications Commission rule that requires all new television sets to include tuners capable of receiving local digital-TV signals.
Kohler, founded in 1873 and based in Kohler, Wis., wants a waiver until Jan. 1, 2008, for “bathroom mirrors with an optional television receiver integrated behind the mirror,” the FCC said in a March 30 public notice.
The FCC requires, in general, that all new TV sets have digital-TV tuners after March 1, 2007, in an effort to ensure that consumers are technologically prepared for the federally mandated cutoff of analog TV signals on Feb. 17, 2009.
A Kohler spokesman couldn’t provide details about the waiver request.
“I am not aware of the waiver request,” Kohler spokesman Todd Weber said Friday. “Right now, we don’t even have a product like that in our line, and we wouldn’t comment until something like that would be launched.”
In its request, Kohler said that because its digital-TV tuner waiver would expire in less than nine months, it “would not compromise” the digital-TV transition.
“[Kohler] submits that these [mirror] products are specialized TV receivers intended as a bathroom accessory and consumers will most likely have a primary TV receiver in their residence that will be capable, or made capable, of receiving DTV signals,” the FCC said.
