That was very informative. Thank you very much. So, in essence, the chip in question may not be available in its un-programmed state (i.e. without a mask ROM), I guess. I think I will just gamble with my $30 (since the minimum order is 5 pcs) and buy it off the online store.
There was no response from Philips whatsoever, so far. Have a great Sunday fellas and thank you everyone.
Please do let us know what happens.
I was happy to post that link that I found, but I don't know much else that might be useful - especially not what that -3292 suffix means (I did look for a while).
I learned from the thread and hope you hit some luck with that vendor.
I'll surely will update this thread with new developments, on the chip procurement as well on any updates from Philips. You are right, this has been a great learning experience for me as well about "mask ROMs". Thank you for the link to the online store.
I also have no idea what else on your board could be damaged
Well, the board had no problems to start with. The flyback transformer had insulation breakdown and started to generate sparks (between its body and its HV cable). The TV was still working, with the audible intermittent sparks of course. I found a replacement transformer and replaced it but the TV died again in a few days. Upon inspection, I found that the HOT (Horizontal Output Transistor) had blown off, so I replaced that too. After a few weeks, it stopped again and this time the power supply MOSFET had blown. I got an equivalent replacement and replaced it, along with the bridge rectifier and a few capacitors that had been shorted. The power supply section was repaired and I managed to get all the secondary DC voltages except for the +5 V for the microcontroller (and the TV wouldn't start), which was when I found that the chip had been shorted. Since I invested a lot of time and replaced quite a lot of components on the TV (and learned a lot during the process), I couldn't let it simply go to the dumpster. You already know the rest of the story.