"Bad Vertical IC"

[UFAlien]

Last night I watched Observe & Report (great movie, btw), and I noticed that there was a vertical line on the screen that seemed brighter than the rest. I assumed it was just the film, and tried to ignore it.

The line is far enough off to the side that it does not interfere with 4:3 material, so while I was watching TV I didn't see anything unusual. But recently, I tried playing Saints Row 2 and noticed that the line was there again.

At this point I did a vague internet search which leads me to believe the problem is a "bad vertical IC", apparently some sort of soldering problem. This is, I read, a warning sign that the TV is about to die.

It is repairable, but nobody in our home has any mechanical skill and, since it's the holidays, we really don't have much in the way of cash to spare on a repair shop.

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, did the TV die? How long did it take? How expensive was the repair? Thanks in advance.