Westinghouse Digital is taking aim at the LCD TV market’s high end by bowing a line of low-cost, eco-focused LED-backlit sets that arrive in the company’s distribution centers this week. First announced at CES, the 26- and 32-inch edge-lit LED-backlit LCD TVs will be sold through high-volume retailers like Amazon, BJ’s, Costco and Target.

LOS ANGELES -- Although cable operators can offer 3D TV pictures to viewers in a “frame compatible” mode today, much work remains to boost the viewing quality and experience of stereoscopic video images beamed to the home, according to industry experts on an NCTA convention panel last week.

The FTC must give CE makers and retailers flexibility to choose the “appropriate attachment mechanism, location and color scheme” of energy use disclosure labels as it devises labeling requirements for TVs, CEA said in comments at the agency. The FTC started a rulemaking on EnergyGuide labels for TVs and other CE products so consumers will have more information on their energy use. “The goal must be to maximize consumer accessibility to the label, while recognizing the varied ways TVs are displayed for sale,” CEA said.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A radio station executive offered a bleak outlook Monday for his industry against Internet radio, and the founder of webcaster Pandora said the arrival of online programming in car dashes threatens Sirius XM. To illustrate a point about how far behind the curve terrestrial radio is in technology, Joe Barham, music director of KSAN(FM) San Francisco, asked how many in the audience at the SF MusicTech Summit had heard of HD Radio, which he called the industry’s big advance in recent years. Hardly any at the music technology conference had, and even fewer had listened to it.

The long-awaited Interphone study, looking at whether heavy cellphone use causes central nervous system tumors, produced no conclusive results, according to a report to be released Tuesday in Geneva. Wireless industry groups said the results largely confirm what other studies have shown.

A 10-year-old record label is morphing into a download store and social network that aims to recreate the environment of the rapidly disappearing brick-and-mortar record store.

Lower prices than a year earlier and rivals’ liquidation sales hurt Hastings Entertainment results for Q1 through April, the chain said Monday. Profit fell to $1 million, 11 cents a share, from $1.7 million, 17 cents, a year earlier. But significant improvement in videogame comparable store sales and more modest growth in comparable store movie and electronics sales helped Hastings report a 4.9 percent uptick in total comparable store sales. Total revenue inched up 2.7 percent to $129.1 million.

Audiovox swung to a $6.5 million Q4 profit from a $70 million loss a year earlier as it benefited from strong sales of FLO TV products and acquisitions of Invision Industries and Schwaiger accessories, the company said. Revenue rose to $150 million from $115 million, as Invision and Schwiager added $11.2 million to sales, Chief Financial Officer Michael Stoehr said on a conference call.

LOS ANGELES -- Steering further away from long-time opposition to IPTV, the largest U.S. and Canadian cable operators are now openly embracing IP video technology as the prime way to deliver their growing video offerings to subscribers wherever they may be. Appearing together on a panel at the NCTA show last week, chief technology officers and senior engineering executives of five major North American cable operators confirmed they're all looking to migrate to IP video over the next couple of years. They cited the need to serve the growing array of IP-enabled consumer devices, provide Internet, mobile and non-traditional video fare to customers, and reduce infrastructure and delivery costs.

Negotiating 3D distribution rights for live TV events such as sports has become a complicated task as content owners, licensees, traditional distributors and new distributors seeking them all are at the table, industry executives said in interviews. “In terms of rights?” said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. “It’s cloudy. It’s real cloudy."