Best Buy (BBY) spends $235K on lobbying efforts so far in 2007

In an age of flat-panel television and laptop computer sales, consumer electronics giant Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) continues to impress me. The company rolls out initiatives that actually work and serve consumers first (instead of shareholders), which in turn brings the company more business, which in turn of course helps shareholders.

Compared to laggard Circuit City, Inc. (NYSE: CC), I believe Best Buy will continue to offer the best upside in an age of slim electronics margins since it leads the way in sufficiently groping customers for those fat-margin services, including helping them set up their HDTVs, to scanning their computers for viruses.

So, it was with a bit of shock that I read the Associated Press report that Best Buy has only doled out some $235,000 to lobby the Federal government in the first six months of this year. This fact was recently disclosed by the company, and in an age of so much change -- like HDTV transitions and declining CD sales -- I would have thought the company would be pouring much more money into the pockets of politicians who have a direct impact on the products that it sells.

Of course, as would be expected, Best Buy did lobby the FCC regarding the expected completion of a nationwide transition to digital television in early 2009. That issue alone is set to cause an even larger transition to newer high-definition television sales in 2008, and Best Buy will be a main beneficiary of that movement once the FCC gets in gear and starts warning hundreds of millions of Americans that analog television will be shortly shut down. I'm betting that Best Buy will break the $600,000 lobbying spend barrier at the conclusion of 2007. Place your bets now.