Supersized TVs with HD ready for Super Bowl

Super Bowl time is here, and that means the bigger the party, the bigger the television screen must be.

Across the nation, an estimated 2.5 million people will purchase a television for Super Sunday, according to a recent study conducted by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association. Many others will rent a set for the game only to return it the next day.

Marla Mills, director of Old Town Cape, is in the latter category. She and her husband will rent a 42-inch plasma set for a party they're holding for about 20 friends.

"We just wanted something bigger and with more clarity. The one we're renting is bigger than what we have, so that was important. Just bigger, sharper and really good speakers for all those commercials," Mills said.

Though from a retail perspective, packing up a TV and shipping it off to a customer for a one-day performance isn't ideal, the salesmen who do say it makes business sense.

"I'm going to try to get her to buy it," said Scott Shivelbine of Shivelbine's Music Store on Broadway in Cape Girardeau.

He likened the Super Bowl rental to test driving a luxury car. "After you see that picture, you can't go back to your old set. You're hooked," he said.

Though Mills is open to the possibility of making a purchase, she thinks Shivelbine will be disappointed. "More than likely it's a rental. We will look at it and consider it, but we didn't rent it thinking we were going to buy it," she said.

Many, though, are buying. The same national study indicated the sale of televisions this year has increased by 47 percent from Super Bowl 2006. Shivelbine said his sales are up about 30 percent.

A big reason for the surge is the price.

Shivelbine pointed to a 42-inch Panasonic plasma set that he said cost $3,495 one year ago. Today it's under $1,700.

"Prices are really dropping, and beginning this fall, that was the first time that sales really kicked in and took off," he said.

People are also more likely than ever to look to upgrade to a television with high definition picture quality.

Based on information from trade magazines and watching the market, Shivelbine believes that by 2010 high-definition TVs will be in 80 percent of U.S. homes. That would be three times the level at the beginning of 2006. Shivelbine's sells high-definition sets at prices ranging from $900 to $4,800.

Those interested in a no-frills television are mostly out of luck. Today, Shivelbine's, like most electronics dealers, offers only a handful of televisions without high-definition capability. He said there is almost no demand for them and compared them to eight-track players.

According to the survey, 9.2 million other people plan to watch the game at a bar. Not surprisingly, local bars are arming themselves with mega-TVs for the Super Bowl crush.

Thursday, Mark Weber, co-owner of the Rude Dog Saloon on Main Street in Cape Girardeau, was at Shivelbine's picking up a 55-inch rental set. The Rude Dog has held a party for the game each of the last six years and expects 50 to 75 people to watch there again this year.

"We do food, desserts and everything. It's not just the usual come down and drink beer," Weber said.

"People like to watch it on the big screen, and it's nice to go out to a place where you don't have to worry afterwards about cleaning up the mess. We don't mind doing that part. We're used to it."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245