Super Bowl season delivers the year's best TV deals, and savvy buyers know exactly when to strike. Retailers like Best Buy and HH Gregg are slashing prices on 55-inch 1080p sets to $500 and Ultra HD models approaching $1,000, driven by post-game inventory fears and sluggish first-half sales forecasts. With 65-inch 4K sets already hitting $1,500 and further discounts expected before kickoff, the window for serious savings is open right now.
Black Friday 2014 left retailers scratching their heads as shoppers stayed home and sales missed NRF targets. Ultra HD TVs stole the show anyway, with 55-inch 4K sets dropping to $899 - a stunning 50% off - while fully loaded 65-inch 1080p models sat untouched nearby. When consumers can grab a 4K set for just $100 more than a comparable 1080p TV, the writing is on the wall for traditional HD pricing.
A Needham and Co. analyst estimates that a la carte pay TV delivery could eliminate at least 124 smaller channels, costing $80B to $113B in U.S. consumer value, while a typical cable channel requires roughly 165,000 annual viewers just to break even at $280 million per year in operating costs. Cord-cutting continues to accelerate, with Netflix approaching 30 million subscribers and services like Aereo charging around $10 per month to stream over-the-air broadcasts via the Internet. Canada's upcoming mandate to unbundle TV channel packages will serve as a real-world test of whether a la carte models benefit or burden consumers.
Black Friday 2013 retail data presents a contradictory picture: while total weekend spending was estimated at $57.4B and online purchases hit a record 40% of all transactions, Black Friday brick-and-mortar sales actually declined 13.2% from 2012, cannibalized by earlier Thanksgiving store openings. Mobile devices accounted for 40% of online traffic and roughly 22-26% of online sales, with smartphones driving 25% of Friday shopping traffic. Electronics and Blu-ray discs ranked among the top four in-store purchases, yet Walmart, Target, and Best Buy all lowered quarterly expectations amid sliding consumer confidence.
This Black Friday 2013 preview catalogs home theater deals across major retailers, with standout pricing including a Denon AVR-E300 875W 5.1 receiver at $274.99, a Vizio 70-inch 1080p Smart LED HDTV at $998, and Blu-ray players starting as low as $38. Compared to 2008 benchmarks when a 50-inch 720p plasma cost $900, 2013 buyers can acquire significantly more capable 1080p displays and audio hardware for the same or lower spend. Shoppers prioritizing value will find the sharpest per-inch pricing at Walmart and Target for mid-size LED HDTVs, while Sears lists early 4K Ultra HDTV options from Seiki starting at $499.99.
Pay TV providers in the U.S. lost 316,000 subscribers between June 2012 and June 2013, with cable operators alone shedding 591,000 video subscriptions in Q2 2013, according to Moffett Research. Competing services like AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS gained 371,000 subs in the same period, while over-the-air antenna reception, Netflix, Amazon Prime streaming, and digital downloads are increasingly viable alternatives for cost-conscious viewers. For consumers paying upward of $185 per month for bundled packages, the math increasingly favors dropping channel tiers and supplementing broadband with streaming.
Nielsen's Q4 2012 Cross-Platform Report identifies over 5 million Zero-TV households, up from 2 million in 2007, with 67% consuming video via PCs, smartphones, and tablets rather than traditional sets. Network broadcast ratings are declining sharply, with shows like New Girl dropping from 8.4 to 6.16 million viewers in their second season, while cable originals such as Homeland and Game of Thrones command stronger audience loyalty. Notably, 23% of Netflix subscribers have cancelled cable or satellite subscriptions, signaling a structural shift that improved smart TVs and faster streaming will likely accelerate.
Cox Communications launched ESPN 3D channel 896 for Cox Advanced TV Plus customers in Virginia, delivering stereoscopic Masters Golf Tournament coverage from April 11-14, 2013 using 6-9 dedicated cameras with 3D-specific graphics and commentary. Viewers require a 3D-compatible television manufactured March 2010 or later, Cox HD service, and an HD/DVR Trio receiver with HDMI output to access the channel. Customers without 3D hardware can still watch full Masters coverage on standard ESPN, making the 3D tier an optional upgrade rather than a replacement broadcast.
This Black Friday 2012 shopping guide covers HDTV and home theater deals across major retailers, with televisions ranging from a $78 Orion 24-inch 720p LED at Wal-Mart to a $1,999.99 Sharp 70-inch 1080p 120Hz Aquos Smart TV at Sears. Standout picks include a Toshiba 40-inch 1080p LCD for $179.99 at Best Buy and a Vizio 60-inch 1080p 120Hz LED for $688 at Wal-Mart. Shoppers looking to maximize value will find curated top-deal breakdowns organized by screen size across Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Sears.
GottaDeal.com's Black Friday 2012 predictions anticipate 32-inch LCD HDTVs dropping as low as $149 and Blu-ray players hitting $39, with the HT Guys offering their own commentary on each forecast. Inexpensive Android tablets are expected to dominate deals while Apple products remain largely full-price, and the newly released Nintendo Wii U faces likely stock shortages just five days after its launch. Shoppers willing to skip Black Friday hype may find better value on larger name-brand HDTVs in early-to-mid December or during pre-Super Bowl sales.
Strategy Analytics forecasts digital TV subscriptions growing from 114M in 2011 to 129M in 2016 at a 2.36% CAGR, but their methodology bundles IPTV with traditional pay-TV, obscuring meaningful subscriber trends. When IPTV subscribers are subtracted, combined digital cable and satellite subscribers barely grow from 106M to 109M over the same period. Deloitte's survey data reinforces the concern, finding 9 percent of Americans have already cut the cord and 11 percent are actively considering it, signaling real pressure on traditional pay-TV providers.
Best Buy is offering a 50-inch Insignia LCD HDTV at $500, a $10-per-diagonal-inch price point more commonly associated with plasma displays. The set is a standard 60Hz panel with three HDMI inputs, lacking advanced features like Internet connectivity or 3D support. Buyers seeking smart TV functionality can supplement it with a Roku or Vizio Google TV network media player for under $100, making this a cost-effective entry into large-screen HDTV ownership.
Amazon Instant Video, bundled with Amazon Prime memberships at $79 per year, has secured a content deal with MGM to add hundreds of classic films and TV episodes, including The Silence of the Lambs, Rain Man, and Stargate. The service offers free streaming of select titles, some in high-definition, but still trails Netflix and Hulu in catalog size. For Prime subscribers, this MGM addition expands the value proposition of a membership that already includes free two-day shipping and Kindle book borrowing.
The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into cable television practices, focusing on Comcast's policy of exempting its Xfinity content streamed over Microsoft Xbox from subscriber data caps while counting competing services like Netflix and Hulu against those caps. Investigators are also scrutinizing 'TV Everywhere' authentication schemes that require bundled cable or satellite subscriptions to access online streaming content. The outcomes could reshape the subscription television market - either by forcing equal data cap treatment for all streaming services or by compelling providers to offer standalone online access without a traditional bundle.
Comcast and Skype have partnered to bring HD video calling to Xfinity subscribers via an adapter box and high-quality camera added to existing set-top boxes, enabling calls to any Skype user across smartphones, tablets, and PCs. The service supports picture-in-picture display and will roll out initially in Seattle and Boston, priced at $9.99 per month after a free three-month trial for triple-play customers. For households with broadband already in place, this could meaningfully lower the barrier to living-room video communication, though the monthly fee may limit broader adoption.
