With many consumers likely to upgrade to digital TVs this holiday season, what will become of the older analog TVs?

That's the question the Electronics TakeBack Coalition asked in compiling its new "TV Recycling Report Card," which grades the major TV manufacturers on their efforts to establish national programs to recycle their TVs.

The ETBC, a national coalition of environmental and consumer groups, released the rankings Nov. 17.

More than half of the 17 companies ranked scored a failing "F" grade because they have no recycling program in place, the ETBC said.

Sony received the highest grade with a B-minus, with other companies scoring C's and D's.

"Clearly, there is still a lot of work to be done," said Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the ETBC. "We want to see a lot more collection sites and a lot more transparency about what the recyclers are doing with these products, so that we can be sure they are being handled responsibly."

Although some manufactures are now offering national programs, none of those programs has enough locations to allow for easy and convenient TV recycling, Kyle said.

Sony was the first TV manufacturer to launch a national program, in September 2007. LG and Samsung followed with programs in summer of 2008. Panasonic/Sharp/Toshiba, who partner their recycling efforts, rolled out plans for voluntary takeback efforts in some states in late October.

Sixteen states, plus New York City, have passed laws requiring manufacturers to take back and recycle their old products, although five of them do not cover televisions.

The grades were determined based on the scope of each company's recycling program, their commitment to recycling, the volume and visibility of their program, and each company's level of support for public policy encouraging recycling.

The group has been pressuring the TV companies to create national recycling programs ahead of the Feb. 17, 2009, mandatory digital TV conversion. Although viewers can still use the older TVs with either a digital converter box and antenna or a satellite/cable connection, the ETBC estimates millions of analog TVs will be disposed of in the near future.

Those TVs include 4 to 8 pounds of toxic metal each. The EPA estimates that there are 99 million unused TVs in storage across the U.S.

"We hope that consumers who are shopping for a new TV this holiday season will take the manufacturers' environmental record into account when they decide what to buy," said Kyle. "Consumers can and should use their buying power to push this industry toward greener practices."