Barry Willis

If this were a logical world, money spent by movie studios in advertising new films would always translate into returns at the box office. But as any movie fan will tell you, the entertainment business is far from logical—in fact, there doesn't appear to be any direct relationship between spending on television ads for new releases and the box office numbers generated by those new releases. It's enough to drive an accountant crazy.

The slow-as-molasses rollout of digital television has riled <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> chairman William Kennard. If he has his way, broadcasters will eventually pay for the surplus radio-frequency spectrum they now control, and electronics manufacturers will be required to make all new television sets capable of receiving digital signals. The two suggestions were among several that Kennard made in a forceful speech at New York's Museum of Television and Radio on Tuesday, October 10.

High-definition broadcasting is here, if the marketing problems are ever solved. Hi-def playback is here in the 480p native format of the Digital Versatile Disc. What's missing? Hi-def recording technology for consumers.

In the past two years, more than 8 million households returned recently acquired electronic products. Most of the returned goods were thought to be defective, but a new study released September 11 indicates that three out of every four "defects" are actually "operator error"&mdash;the owners didn't understand how the products were supposed to work. More surprising is a finding that most consumers are really pretty happy with the industry's return and repair policies.