In a sign that this holiday retail season may be as competitive as any in recent memory, consumer electronics behemoth Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) will be delivering that new 52-inch LCD television and setting it up with all your equipment -- for free.

That alone will one-up merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and others who move mass merchandise only but offer zero support after that. Well, unless you need to return a defective item, that is. Best Buy's gambit here is a good one: free delivery and especially hookup of a new (and complicated) flat-panel television is a huge benefit over the competition. Will competitors follow?

As an early adopter of the flat-screen television craze, I can attest to the wonderful benefits of the device. I love mine, especially when watching movies or my favorite sporting event, hockey (it's so much easier following the puck in HD).

For a while there a few years ago, flat-screen TVs were flying off the shelves. Builders were using them as perks for new home purchases, and restaurants and bars seemed to buy them in bulk.

A main beneficiary of the flat-panel boom was Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) -- the largest maker of glass for flat-panel televisions.

In 2002, the stock was unduly pummeled in tandem with the rest of the technology sector. At that time, one could fetch shares for the eye-catching price of a buck a share. Investors were speculating that GLW would ultimately fail as demand for its products crashed.

Flat-panel displays saved the day. The company fixed its balance sheet and shares rocketed higher off its lows. By 2006, shares of GLW peaked above $26 per share. It was a great run, but with the collapse of the housing bubble, the easy money in GLW was made.

Retailer Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will be adding the Olevia brand of consumer electronics to its shelves in the near future, as Taiwanese company Kolin announced today. Olevia, a brand commonly seen in the electronics departments of rival retailer Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), will help parent company Kolin try to increase shipments 50% in 2008, according to the company.

Does Wal-Mart really need another generic brand of flat-panel televisions on its shelves? The argument could be either way, although the television display areas of all Wal-Mart Supercenters I've seen are packed full. It's not like the Olevia brand carries weight like the Sony or Panasonic brand. Count the sales surge in flat-panel maker Vizio into the lineup and where will Olevia fit? In terms of pricing, at the very low end with bargain-basement brand names like Westinghouse, most likely.

Olevia's 42-inch flat-panel televisions have reportedly been hot sellers in China as of the end of last year, which led to Wal-Mart asking for a supply of the brand's flat-panel products. It's unknown what size televisions will see daylight on the shelves of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in 2008, although Kolin president Frank Li has said his company has secured a contracted supply of 62-inch high-definition LCD panels from Sharp, one of its handful of vendors for flat-panel screens. Wal-Mart better make room for those huge flat-panels if indeed it intends to stock 62-inch sizes on those display walls. Maybe Sam's can just suspend the displays from those high warehouse ceilings? Just a suggestion.

Sony Electronics (NYSE: SNE) said today that it would be discontinuing the manufacture of rear-projection television sets after decades of making them for global markets. In the end of a television era, Sony will concentrate its efforts on flat-panel LCD and OLED television sets from now on.

The dropping of rear-projection products was expected from the Japanese electronics manufacturer as the division has consistently been losing money in recent times. In fact, it's widely expected that tube-style TVs and larger, rear-projection TVs will be gone from global store shelves within a few years. LCD, Plasma and OLED television display technology will completely take over.

With projected sales of rear-projection televisions in Sony's current fiscal year having been guided down from 700,000 to 400,000 recently, that number pales in comparison to the expected 10 million LCD televisions the company is expected to sell in its current fiscal year, up from the previous year's mark of 6.3 million sets.

Hastening the discontinuing of Sony's rear-projection business is the fact that 85% of those sets were sold in the U.S., which is rapidly adopting flat-panel technologies for almost every new television sold. Then again, Sony is going to run up into fierce competition in the flat-panel television space and has already accused competitor Vizio of hurting industry profits this year.

Looks like Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) won't be resting under fearless CEO Sir Howard Stringer any time soon. The consumer electronics giant continues to get hammered in so many of the staple businesses that used to make up its bread-n-butter. In the latest installment, a rising star in the flat-panel television business seems to have its hand around Sony's neck in that market.

Vizio, a virtual unknown in the television business 18 months ago, has been undercutting plasma and LCD television prices for quite some time in the retail sector and is squeezing profits from Sony, Samsung and other big names. While competition is good, Sony may be publicly proclaiming that rapid-fire and deep flat-panel television pricing may be bad for the overall television market. Privately, Sony is probably feeling the profit pinch by this newer competitor that has ascended to the top spot in flat-panel LCD televisions shipped to retailers in the second quarter of this year.

How does Vizio do it? By using contract manufacturers for making all its televisions and a unique distribution strategy, according to CEO William Wang. Is Sony in such a diverse retail distribution field that includes Circuit City, Wal-Mart, Costco, Kmart and Sears? Apparently not -- but Vizio is. And, all that retail exposure is fanning the flames of its incredible flat-panel television sales. Would you rather spend $1,000 on a 32-inch Sony LCD television or a 47-inch Vizio unit if the quality was comparable? Customers are choosing Vizio.