Panasonic’s making a pretty big deal of its Viera HDTV rollout, and has extended and renamed its Plasma Concierge service to accommodate. The program is being extended to offer free support to both Panasonic plasma and LCD owners, and it’s being renamed Viera Concierge.

Before, the service was only available for Panasonic plasma owners, but hey, LCD people love their HDTV too. Now they also get the toll-free customer support line, quick access to techies via phone, web or in-home service, and even things like getting a Panasonic loaner HDTV at no charge if your TV is under repair.

Viera Concierge customers can contact the TV experts for tips on setup, operation, troubleshooting and integration of their web-enabled Viera TVs with other home electronics.

Panasonic HDTV owners will get to carry around a Concierge Benefits Card providing a customer ID and dedicated toll-free phone number that will entitle them to “a range of valuable privileges” within the United States, says Panasonic. Not sure exactly what those will be, but since being launched two years ago, Panasonic’s customer call center has earned a “Center of Excellence” by the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University.

Membership indeed has its privileges. Get a look at the service at www.panasonic.com/VIERAcentral.

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!