Flat-panel TVs not scoring World Cup goals

Soccer may be the most popular sport in the world, but it hasn't exactly spurred the masses to lay out loads of cash for large, flat-panel TVs to watch the game on its grandest stage.

Despite predictions to the contrary, the 2006 FIFA World Cup has not boosted sales the way some had anticipated, according to market research firm iSuppli. Though the total number of TVs sold worldwide increased in the first quarter of this year over the same period last year, the actual dollar figures were not quite what retailers had hoped for, according to Sweta Dash, director of LCD and projection research for iSuppli.

"For World Cup, we saw increased adoption of flat-panel TVs and more shift towards 40-inch and larger size, but still over all sales was below expectation of many suppliers. That led to increase inventory and stronger price reduction especially for smaller size LCD TV panels," she said.

Dash said iSuppli is forecasting 2006 sales of plasma TVs to reach 8 million and sales of LCD TVs to reach 38 million.

Mike Abt, president of Abt Electronics, one of the nation's largest independent electronics retailers, said he didn't notice any recent bump in sales of flat panels in his 28-acre store in suburban Chicago.

"We've seen a lot more people watching TV (in the store), we're always showing the games, we have great pictures on them, but I don't think our sales have gone up because of the World Cup," he said. "Not like the Super Bowl, where we have a huge increase (in sales) right before the Super Bowl, and then a return problem."

He reminds us once again that in the U.S., "futbol" will never be football.