Finally, it seems like 2007 will be the year prices of popular flat panel TV sets will drop to the level that most people can afford them. Industry insiders at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin predict that prices will drop by as much as a third, or more, next year.

Two of the world’s largest makers of television sets, LG Electronics and Sharp Corp., said on Thursday they expected prices of flat LCD television sets to drop by 20 to 30 percent, or more, in 2007 because of overproduction and cost reductions.

"Last year we saw about 30 percent of price reductions for plasma and a little bit more for LCD. Next year, in 2007, we expect about the same," Young Chan Kim, head of global marketing for LG's displays division said to journalists at IFA according to Reuters.

This is also interesting for the content industry for a number of reasons.

First of all, it means that all these people who will go out and buy new television sets are likely to watch more television than before and posibly upgrade to a better service. If you get this new fancy TV set, you want to enjoy it, right? This will be good for network and cable network ratings overall.

Secondly, a lot of these new flat panel television sets are HDTV equipped. That means that there will be a growing demand for HDTV programming next year. So far, it has been a chicken-and-the-egg type situation where producers have held out on expensive HDTV productions because of questionable demand.

Thirdly, it sets the stage for the broader introduction to the general public of new integrated home media centers, much hyped by Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The central pillar of his strategy is Microsoft’s Media Center software. This allows consumers to share video music and photos across a variety of devices and comes pre-installed on many of the latest laptops and PCs or as a stand-alone box that can be connected to a television screen.

Japanese electronics giant Sony has launched a version of Windows Media Center in the shape of its new VAIO Digital Living System, which uses a wireless keyboard and remote control to allow users to browse personal photos and video, and download music and movies from the Internet. Users can record favorite television shows directly on to their hard drive for on-demand viewing and, if they wish, burn them on to DVD for viewing on the road. Sony calls it “television on your terms” and is enthusiastic about Media Center, despite the fact the Microsoft’s new games console is set to take market share from the Sony Playstation.

So, the technology is out there already. If the prices now are coming down significantly, 2007 will be the year that the “Digital Revolution” in entertainment really takes off!