Philips, LG Electronics, others face EU cartel fines Nov 28 -sources

BRUSSELS Nov 9 (Reuters) - Philips, LG Electronics , Samsung SDI and three other firms will receive hefty EU fines at the end of the month for fixing prices of TV cathode-ray tubes, four people with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

The sources said other companies involved in the cartel are France's Thomson, which was renamed Technicolor in 2010, and Japan's Matsushita, now known as Panasonic Corp. and Toshiba Corp..

The European Commission, which raided the companies in late 2007, will announce the fines on Nov. 28, according to a Commission document seen by Reuters and confirmed by the sources.

Sanctions are expected to be substantial, because the cartel lasted more than a decade from the late 1990s, one of the sources said.

The sources said Taiwanese company Chunghwa Picture Tubes alerted the EU antitrust regulators to the existence of the cartel, so will not be fined.