While we just heard last month that flat-panel sales would be spearheading 2008 consumer electronics growth, a new outlook has those very sales looking bleak for the remainder of the year. The news come amidst the expectation of LG Display to post profits for Q2 that "more than [triple] thanks to strong demand for TVs and tight supplies of PC panels." According to James Kim, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, "earnings have peaked in the second quarter," and while he asserts that "demand to replace TVs with flat-screen models is still there, fewer consumers are buying large-size TVs because of the weak economy." Still, sales of smaller sets are expected to steadily climb in emerging markets as the Beijing Olympics draw near, but it remains to be seen how large an impact those markets will have.

[Via WidescreenReview]

Sure, this year's Super Bowl was said to be responsible for some two million HDTV purchases, but driving another million just a month later isn't anything to sneeze at. According to a new release from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament "will help inspire the purchase of nearly 1 million HDTVs (934,000), which represents slightly more than $1 billion in retail sales." Beyond that, the data also found that over half of existing HDTV-owning sports fans would end up turning their attention to the internet in order to fetch highlights and statistics. Of course, it also discovered that the amount of fans viewing whole games online is on the rise, and considering that The Man will likely have you right where he wants you tomorrow (read: nowhere near a TV), we don't find that surprising at all.

Well, what do you know? No sooner than we whip up a questionnaire to find out if you're going to splurge on a new HDTV for the forthcoming tilt between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, along comes a study suggesting that quite a few of your neighbors will be. According to new results from the third annual Sports and Technology survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and Sports Video Group (SVG), the Big Game is expected to drive the purchase of 2.4 million high-definition sets, which should generate some $2.2 billion this year alone. Interestingly, this year's study also found that emerging outlets such as mobile handsets and the internet would be sought to provide statistics and secondary information while the Super Bowl is in progress. And hey, if you're questioning your sanity over buying a new TV for one game, just think, March Madness is only weeks away.

[Image courtesy of AP / Rick Hossman]