The following states they have v-chip with no added cost!!!!!!!!!!
Panasonic Achieves 100 Percent V-Chip Compliance
In New TV Line
SECAUCUS, NJ (May 10, 1999) - One hundred percent - a figure
representing completeness that's often hard to achieve.
Nevertheless, Panasonic's done it with its 1999 TV lineup. Fully 100
percent of the company's applicable televisions comply with the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandate on
incorporation of "V-chip" integrated circuitry that gives viewers the
option of blocking programs they consider objectionable. Panasonic's
achievement far outstrips the FCC's guidelines, which call for
manufacturers to reach a level of 50 percent compliance by July 1999.
Manufacturers do not have to achieve one hundred percent
compliance on new models with diagonal screen sizes 13 inches or
larger until January 2000.
"We're proud to be ahead of the curve on V-chip compliance, but our
achievement's really no surprise," comments Bill Mannion, general
manager of the Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company's
Television and Network Systems Division. "Panasonic supplied the
prototype V-chip TV that was part of the first national broadcast
demonstration, so by reaching 100 percent compliance we're just
continuing our leadership in this area."
Using a technical standard devised by the Consumer Electronics
Manufacturers Association, the V-chip circuitry system in a television
set receives and processes a data stream of content ratings codes
transmitted with individual TV programs by a broadcaster or cable
system. These data contain the "Content Rating Advisory System," a
voluntary ratings system adopted last year by the television industry.
This system uses labels to indicate the specific nature of programming
based on age/maturity/content considerations. When programmed by
a viewer, a V-chip-equipped TV can respond to the advisory
information by blocking programs that the viewer deems undesirable.
Making the 1999 Panasonic TV line-up's 100 percent V-chip
compliance all the more impressive is the fact that it was achieved
without the addition of a price premium to any model in the new TV
line. Also of note, the freestanding Panasonic set-top digital decoder
will be equipped in 2000 with special V-chip circuitry necessary for
responding to content information in digital TV broadcasts.
The 1999 Panasonic line of TV/VCR combination units is also
impressive in terms of V-chip compliance, with 17 of 19 models
featuring V-chip circuitry.
New Jersey-based Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company
(PCEC) is a division of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America
(MECA). MECA is the principal North American subsidiary of
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., (MEI) (NYSE: MC) of
Japan, one of the world's largest producers of electronic and electric
products for consumer, business and industrial use. Additional
information on Matsushita/Panasonic is available at
www.panasonic.com.
Press Contacts:
Kurt Praschak
(201) 392-6124
praschakk@panasonic.com
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