Ah, maybe it was something like this article that prompted my friend (who is a long time employee of Pana) to mention/ask something about this. We spoke again at some later point, and he said he never heard a peep again, and I made him promise to let me know the very second he knows for sure that the worst case scenario would happen. (Because, I'd be looking real hard to scrounge up the change in my seat cushions to buy my first flat panel, you know, a 65" plasma, haha.)
It is interesting that the article quickly mentions the missed chance at the Beijing Games, because I was telling my friend during our second conversation, "Didn't you see all of those Pana plasmas EVERYWHERE during the London Games broadcasts, next to Bob Costas, next to Ryan Seacrest, etc, like that big one, at least 80" for sure minimum?", and he said yeah he sure did. They were a big sponsor. BTW, the Summer Games was (were?) after the date of the linked article.
If that day does come though, if the % savings approaches anything what the Kuros did immediately post-announcement, holy crap, they will sell out ultra mega sooper dooper fast. I'm highly doubting it though, I'm assuming the margins must be a lot lower on these Panas, and the "value ratio" is just a lot higher to begin with, IMO.
