Nathan Connors and Stephen Fenech | July 07, 2008
THE Beijing Olympics are only a month away and Queenslanders are rushing to claim every sports fan's wish: a high-definition widescreen TV.
Pre-Games excitement has sparked a 39 per cent surge in sales of LCD and plasma TVs so far this year, fanned by confirmation that the Beijing Olympics will be the first to be telecast in high definition.
Because Beijing is in a similar time zone, all major events will be shown live in Australia, so loungeroom supporters need not stay up late to catch the best action.
Harvey Norman Brisbane City franchisee John Morton confirmed a surge in sales of high-definition TVs.
"We're now selling around five times more panels. Manufacturers like Sony, Samsung and LG are driving their sales by value-adding," he said.
JB Hi-Fi acting regional manager Dan Weir also said there had been a jump in sales of high-definition televisions.
With 15 of his stores in the state, Mr Weir estimates about 50-80 TVs are sold in every store each week.
"The big driving factor is the reduction in price," he said.
Mr Morton said he expected the increase in sales to grow right up to the start of the Olympics and beyond.
"People will go and watch the Olympics on high definition at their friend's house and realise how good it is.
"There may even be a world shortage of some models as people rush to purchase them."
The average price for a 102cm high-definition TV is now about $1600, compared with $2400 a year ago.
Four years ago, before the Athens Games, TV sales also surged despite the Games being out of Australia's time zone. The average price then for a flatscreen TV was $5000.
Australia's official broadcaster, the Seven Network, and partner SBS will release their official Olympics TV schedules this week.
Seven's Simon Francis said they expected bumper ratings - the equivalent of two or three State of Origins or AFL grand finals every day - for the 17 days of the Olympics, with up to five million viewers tipped to tune in.
The Sunday Mail