S.Korea's LG to stop production of cathode ray tube TVs

South Korea's LG Electronics said Monday it would no longer produce bulky cathode ray tube televisions for domestic sale due to falling demand and the end of analogue-based broadcasting service.

LG, which started manufacturing TVs in 1966, will also stop selling the CRT TVs once existing inventories are gone, a spokesman told AFP.

It will stop making the TVs for the domestic market from Tuesday but continue to produce them for overseas markets including India, Vietnam, Brazil, China and Egypt where demand is still booming, he said.

At home CRT TVs accounted for less then five percent of LG's total TV sales last year and only two percent in the first half of this year as consumers favoured slimmer digital panel televisions.

The popularity of CRT TVs waned further after South Korean broadcasters said they will use only digital signals for transmission from 2013.

(c) 2010 AFP