The warranty is advertised as "commencing" upon the expiration of the shortest portion of the manufacturers warranty. BEWARE that they do not honor this as the warranty term being additional coverage on top of the manufacturer's warranty. I have a Sharp 63" LCD HD TV and purchased the 3 yr protection plan. When I called to make a claim due to an issue with an HMI port and no longer receiving sound, I was told that the warranty starts on the day of purchase. So essentially I bought a 3yr warranty for only 2yrs of coverage because they would not have assisted with any issues covered by the 1st yr of coverage by Sharp anyway. Additionally when I tried to make the claim I experienced the same treatment with unanswered e-mails, on-hold on the phone for more than 40 min, and hung-up on twice.