LG Electronics and Netflix Inc. are planning to enter into a partnership, whereby LG's soon-to be-introduced TV sets could screen Netflix movies straight from the Web, without the need of an external box. Last year, the two had launched set-top boxes and Blu-ray DVD players, which were also outfitted with the same Netflix software.

LG's new high-definition TVs will be displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 8. The sets are targeted at those Netflix customers who desire the ease of Internet-to-TV movies, without the set-top box or DVD player muddle - as Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey put it, without being "encumbered with a rack of boxes around the TV!"

Subscribers who pay Netflix at least $9 per month for a DVD rental plan, have access to the company's 12,000 movies and TV shows - from its entire library consisting of over 100,000 titles - for immediate streaming over the Internet, without any extra cost. As part of their monthly rental plan, the Netflix subscribers can hook up the specific devices to their TVs for viewing movies that can be downloaded from the Internet instantly.

LG is aiming at beginning the sale of the Netflix-enabled TVs this spring; and, at a store like Wal-Mart, these TV sets would cost about $1,000 - roughly $200 to $300 more than a regular HDTV set. These TVs, using broadband Internet technology, would be available in four models - LCDs with 42-inch and 47-inch screens, and plasma TVs with 50-inch and 60-inch screens.