When Is the Best Time to Buy a TV?

Late January and early February: Retailers tend to discount TVs beginning in late January. Usually, older series (aging OLED models in particular) and budget models from the previous season’s model lines are some of the first to go on sale. Sales typically continue through the Super Bowl, and often through Presidents’ Day in February.

Last year, the Wirecutter Deals team found 10 substantial deals on our TV picks in this time period. And the discounts weren’t just available on our budget picks — sales included the Sony A95L OLED TV, our upgrade OLED pick at the time, as well as high-end Samsung models.

One thing to remember: While late January and early February sales are good, they’re more notable for their abundance in advance of the Super Bowl and the Oscars than they are for offering shockingly good one-off steals. Shop carefully. Be cautious of the hype.

Summer sales: The deals we usually uncover in July tend to be for the same aging, previous-model-year options we see in January and February, but they’re five to six months older by this point.

New-model-year TVs often come out in March or April. We’ve seen July discounts on new models, including the LG C5, our top OLED TV, but you should expect these discounts to be smaller. If you want a more substantial discount on a current-model-year offering, you’re likely better off waiting for October and November, when pre–Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales launch. As with all deal events, we advise caution around the super-cheap “blowout” bargain-bin TVs from no-name brands that are heavily advertised around Black Friday — they rarely measure up.

The whole month of November, including Black Friday: Massive Black Friday sales kick off no later than early November and often even start in October. You can expect to see regular deals on TVs, both high-end and low-end models, at this time. In 2025, we saw discounts that included the LG C5 Series and numerous Hisense models we recommend.

The very best prices of the year are available during this window. However, some deep Black Friday TV discounts are to be avoided. There’s a difference between an expert-vetted budget model and a “blowout” bargain-basement display — you might pay a hundred dollars more for the former, but your viewing experience will be better, and your purchase will likely last longer.