Really confused how do you know that then?
Actually a typical TV will use something like 5 watts, a VCR 5-10 watts. Some of the new TVs less than a watt.
By comparison a 42" plasma TV might use 400 watts turned on the a large tube telly maybe 100 watts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6188940.st m
So at first sight it sounds like a lot of fuss over nothing but think for a moment how it adds up say a total of 20 watts on standby for all your devices by 10 million households
200 mega-watts
To put that in perspective the old Sizewell A magnox nuclear power plant consisted of 2 200 megawatt reactors.
So no it's not true, but yes it is a saving that's worth making