• The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, November 20, 2007 12:15 PM

Sony began dispatching more than 500 employees across the U.S. into stores in September to talk to shoppers about larger-size TVs. They want to avoid the sort of mistakes made last year when a flood of 32-inch flat-panel liquid crystal display televisions hit the market brought prices crashing and down more than 30%.

One of the points Sony is stressing is that its large TVs offer better quality than those from cheaper vendors. "As you get into the larger screen sizes, it becomes more noticeable the difference between us and them," says Randy Waynick, a senior executive with Sony Electronics in San Diego. Overall, LCD TVs 40 inches or larger will increase to 68% of Sony's TV lineup, from 55% last year.

Sony isn't alone. For the holiday season, Toshiba and Philips are also pushing TV sets measuring 40 inches or larger. The price war last year partially contributed to Circuit City's net loss in its 2006 fiscal third quarter after the company tried to match discounts from rivals. Overall, flat-panel TVs are expected to remain one of the hottest-selling products for the holidays.

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