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Digital TV Driving Sales in Aberdeen, Nationwide

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

Sep. 20--Nationwide, sales of digital televisions are up substantially from last year, and Aberdeen is no exception.

The Consumer Electronics Association reported U.S. sales are up 45 percent over this time last year.

A large part of that is that more and more TVs being sold are digital to begin with.

"A 36-inch TV that was not digital last year is digital this year," said Chad Lang, owner of Lang's Audio, TV and Appliance in Aberdeen.

With the federal government mandating a switch in broadcasting from older analog signals to digital signals, a shift in the technology in televisions was forced as well.

Digital, while better than the old analog sets, is not to be confused with the higher quality High-Definition, Lang said.

Most of the Digital TVs he's selling are HD capable with no High Definition tuner built-in. The tuner must be purchased separately. Many of the higher-end sets do have the tuners built in.

Prices for the sets are also driving sales, Lang said, and they continue dropping.

A 42-inch plasma digital set - a common size consumers look for - now sells for $1,999, Lang said.

The same TV was nearly double that a year and a half ago, Lang said.

At REX TV and Appliance in Aberdeen, digital TV sales are up more than 70 percent over last year, said manager Quentin Nieman.

"My main customers that come in looking for digital TVs tend to go with High Definition (as well)," Nieman said.

In the Aberdeen area, Nieman said he thinks the rollout of digital broadcasting by cable TV and satellite TV companies is helping boost sales.

"I think the rural folks are getting digital TV in their areas, and that gets them into town to buy something and upgrade," Nieman said.

He also noted that the end of summer is when sales tend to pick up around here as farmers are getting less busy and are coming up on the season when they have time to watch more TV.

"The cost factor is a big thing too," Nieman said, noting that the sets are just getting cheaper.

Drops in pricing can be attributed to a number of reasons, Lang said.

"There are certainly competitive pressures (between brands), and there's also an economy of scales," he said, adding that as technology becomes more pervasive, it becomes less expensive to produce, and thus the product becomes less expensive.

The trend is likely to continue.

"Sixty-inch plasmas are now under $10,000 and in the past three or fours years, they've been closer to $25,000," Lang said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.

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Source: American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)

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