Article: Sony, Samsung aim to avoid TV price war with ad efforts; Category spending fell 27% in first half as rivals turned to promotion.

Byline: BETH SNYDER BULIK

If you think it's a bad time to be in TV sales, try being in sales of TV sets.

With sales of TVs down more than 15% in the first quarter, marketers are largely sitting out the ad scene this year after several years of aggressive marketing and advertising. For the first six months of the year, media spending in the TV category fell $58.3 million, 27% lower than the same time period in 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

And if hadn't been for one aggressive spender, Samsung which accounted for 40% ($23.8 million) of the total TV category in the first half, spending would have plunged 57%. In fact, one relatively ...

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