Westinghouse Digital Electronics is a name that most of you may not be too familiar with in general. After all unless you spend a lot of time thinking about where the screens that power your entertainment come from you would have no real reason to know about them. So today, before we talk about the layoffs to come, we are going to begin by taking a look at what Westinghouse Digital Electronics does to make its money, “Westinghouse Digital Electronics is one of the top five LCD TV manufacturers in the U.S. (2007*). The company offers a complete suite of innovative LCD displays for the professional and consumer markets as well as LCD-based consumer electronic products that deliver the latest digital content for the ultimate entertainment or commercial display experience. Westinghouse Digital’s award-winning consumer HDTV line up includes a complete family of 720p and 1080p LCD HDTVs and HD 1080p monitors in a wide range of sizes and formats, HD Grade^TM computer standard and widescreen monitors, and a full line of digital photo frames. Westinghouse Digital’s Commercial Business Unit offers a full suite of high-end LCD HDTVs and video monitors targeted to meet the demanding needs of the Pro A/V business sector, including digital signage applications. As a fully-integrated, complete technology provider, Westinghouse Digital has the capability to provide customers with hardware, software and content in one box for the ultimate all-in-one solution. As the power behind Adtek Media’s PumpTop TV network, Westinghouse Digital is the exclusive supplier of thousands of specially-designed LCD screens which deliver entertainment, news and advertising in major brand gas stations to millions of viewers each month.”

Sadly Westinghouse Digital Electronics is getting ready to cut back on 50 workers, which is just enough to qualify as a mass layoff action under the current federal guidelines. The cuts are all coming from the company’s chemical weapons incinerator, which is located in the city of Anniston. The facility is getting ready to close, which means there is little chance of the workers being rehired by the company down the line. For the time being the company has not made any public comment about when the layoffs will go into effect and what kind of a severance package, if any, will be offered to the workers who are being let go by the company.

Interestingly enough the company, in its latest release, chose to talk about a new type of lamp it is making for its TV’s instead of talking about the job cuts that the company is making , “You can scratch off another “premium” feature that no longer carries a premium price. According to the company’s press release, Westinghouse Digital has announced that it is shipping LCD HDTVs with LED backlights at prices that challenge the traditionally less-expensive cold-cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlight designs. Its 40″ LD-4070Z is on sale online now at Walmart for $439.99; that’s at least 40% less than LED-backlit models from the major manufacturers. Westinghouse also has a 46″ LD-4655 that is currently on sale for $599.99 at Best Buy. That’s less than the price of a 42″ LED backlit model from most brands. The accelerated life cycle and cut-throat pricing in the flat panel TV market now force manufacturers to migrate new features throughout their entire product line faster than ever. We’re seeing that with LED backlights and 120 Hz refresh rates. It’s already starting to happen with Internet connectivity and stereoscopic 3D support. The bottom line is that you don’t have to wait long for a new, desirable feature to get folded into the list of standard features that you can expect to find on all but the most stripped-down entry-level models.”

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