WASHINGTON – Despite Federal Trade Commission guidelines, many TV sellers are misleading customers by leading them to believe the TV they are buying is bigger than it actually is, a new HD Guru inquiry finds.

“TV manufacturers have been moving to what they call “size class” which means that the TV may not actually measure 42 inches,” says Gary Merson, editor-in-chief of HD Guru.

The high definition TV publication says the FTC explicitly states that the size or “class” of an HDTV’s actual, active screen must be within a half-inch of the actual measured size in all advertisements, websites and anywhere else the TV is for sale.

But, HD Guru found a “significant number of [TV sellers] not complying, providing confusing or inaccurate screen size information or burying the correct data on secondary pages past the ‘add to cart’ page.”

TVs are measured diagonally to get their size class.

When HD Guru looked into several sellers’ TV advertisements, they found many inaccurately described the HDTVs, including WalMart and Best Buy.

Read the full story and see screenshots at HD Guru.

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