Of note, the CEO of CC commented "We shouldn't have anchored ourselves to LCD. Had we sold more Plasma's we would still be in buisness."
If that's quote is accurate, I wonder what he was smokin'?

It's just a sign of the times and this I can tell you first hand and as I'm sure you've all read, the CE industry is in a lull to put it mildly. Some folks read about but I experienced it. At some unclear point in time, customers stopped coming in for audio video gear. The just stopped - this trend began some 8 months ago and we can see the results in another brick and mortar CE company. Everybody has a theory but at the end of the day it appears that surplus/disposable income vanished.

On another point, I have to admit getting a little chuckle at Sony's financial down turn. They ran a wild west approach to product distribution and so no exclusivity rights were given to retailers. Brick and mortars can't compete with those that have vitually no overhead such as e-tailers. The customer is the winner by getting a better price but how is the brick and mortar to survive when customers can buy the sets online for damn near cost. It's a miracle some companies like CC have lasted this long. Soon your only choice for CE (medium grade )may be BB . I'm picking on Sony but Panasonic and Samsung did the same thing. Pioneer Elite held the line though, but that's not enough to a make a business.

Who's to say the e-tailers have to sell cheap any longer?