Jeff Cove, vice president and group general manager for TVs at Panasonic Consumer Electronics in Secaucus, N.J., said he doesn't expect consumers to delay TV purchases until next year.
Sony Electronics Vice President Rick Clancy said he doesn't think TV sales will be affected at all.
Manufacturers spent a decade developing the technology for digital television and a top-of-the-line version called high-definition TV, and it will be several more years before digital sets are common in American homes.
Zanfino said he fielded calls at the rate of one every five minutes from Mitsubishi retailers who worried that the digital TV news would prompt consumers to defer purchases of new TV sets for more than 18 months. One store in San Diego reported that a customer who bought a big-screen TV last week returned over the weekend seeking a refund.
The first digital TVs to come on the market will cost several thousand dollars, about the equivalent of today's large-screen projection sets. That has some companies worried that big-ticket big-screen TVs and home theater systems will be most vulnerable to declining sales.
But Ken Gassman, a retail analyst with Davenport & Co. in Richmond, Va., expects sales of basic models to bear the brunt of the slowdown.
"It's going to be the third or fourth TV in a house that won't be bought," said Gassman, who needs a new TV himself but has decided to wait for a digital model.
That attitude is not universal. Robert Studman, a salesman at Fry's Electronics in Woodland Hills, said a few customers have asked about digital TVs, but "when they hear the price, they say, 'I'm not going to go that way.' "
* UPSTARTS MERGE
Two firms hoping to bring the Net to a TV near you have joined forces. D3
* AIRING CONCERNS
The National Assn. of Broadcasters convention opened with a warning. D10
