Retailers tie TV deals to Super Bowl

Wal-Mart, Target and Sears, three of the nation's largest retailers, are both offering steeply discounted flat-panel televisions Sunday through next Saturday, the day before Super Bowl Sunday.

The moves (announced as "Game Time Savings" and "Prep for the Big Game"), follow a holiday season of anemic television sales in a market that some analysts say is saturated with flat-panel, high-definition and even 3-D televisions.

At Target, the biggest deal being offered is a Samsung Blu-ray player bundled with a 40" Samsung, 1080p, LED television for $749. That's a total savings of $580 off of list price, Target says. Several other televisions are on sale for $100 to $120 off, and Target is offering free delivery and installation with the purchase of any television 46" or bigger.

Wal-Mart is selling a Samsumg Blu-ray player bundled with a Samsung 46", 1080p, LED television for $898 - $560 below list price. Wal-Mart is also offering the same deal as Target (40" Samsung television bundled with a Blu-ray player) for $1 less, $748. They are also offering savings of about $100 on several other televisions.

Sears is offering several televisions for $1,000 or more off list prices, including a 3D-ready, Samsung 55", 1080p LED model for $1,999.99 that typically retails for $3,299.99.
New televisions haven't been selling nearly as well as they were a few years ago, when America's appetite for bigger (and bigger and bigger and bigger) televisions seemed endless. Sluggish demand in 2010 and a glut of flat-panel televisions pushed prices down to bargain-basement levels this holiday shopping season.

Even with lowered prices, sales of consumer electronics were dragged down by televisions and rose only 1.2 percent over last year, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. That's well below the more than 5 percent growth in spending this holiday season overall.