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Is the economy really forcing even TV to go down the drain?  It’s apparently even hitting the big names.  Former industry giant Pioneer has been seeing such a slump in sales that they are being forced to do massive employee cutbacks (10,000 more than they have already done) and even more shocking—are closing the doors to their TV making division come 2010.

They aren’t the only ones.  Vizio, known for making lower cost televisions, has also been feeling the crunch.  Although they used to make both plasma and LCD TVs, that will no longer be the case.  Their web site does still offer some plasma models, but there were no new plasmas introduced at the recent CES, and according to the company’s co-founder Laynie Newsome, their plasma inventory is pretty much depleted.

So, what’s up with the disappearance with plasma?  According to Ms Newsome of Vizio, they just don’t show as well as LCDs in “big box stores.”  The reason being that these types of stores are normally lit by fluorescent and halogen lights and this gives potential buyers the idea that LCDs have a better, brighter picture quality. 

Mitsushige Akino of Tokyo-based Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co.says of Pioneer, “The consumer-electronics industry has now entered into the stage where a company on the brink of a cliff falls down.”  And it seems the only big guns in the plasma market left standing right now are LG and Samsung.  But for how long?  The companies are all obviously hoping for some major turn arounds; but I guess only time will tell.

via: bloomberg and gadgetwise