Under a Federal Communications Commission rule, all but the smallest televisions will be required to have tuners to receive digital TV signals by the summer of 2007. Despite protests from members of the electronics industry, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the FCC rule, which was launched because the FCC said the industry was dragging its feet on making the tuners available.

Congress set a goal of December 2006 for the nationwide switch from analog broadcasts to digital, which would require digital tuners either built-in or in a separate box on the TV.