The major use of Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCO) is in Flat Panel Displays (FPD). One of the major issues preventing the use of a plastic film substrate for FPD is its moisture and oxygen permeability. The permeation of water and oxygen limits the long-term stability of the display device. Another issue with plastic substrates is the low conductivity of the TCO that must be deposited at a low temperature. The Polymer MultiLayer (PML) process for vacuum evaporation of organic monomers and in-situ e-beam or UV polymerization has been shown to produce excellent substrate smoothing and when combined with other layers, outstanding barrier properties on plastic films, e.g., polypropylene and polyester (PET). Oxygen and moister permeation rates for an aluminum film with PML base coat, are one to two orders of magnitude lower than with just an aluminum layer alone. Similarly, permeation rates with PML plus an aluminum oxide layer, are another one to two orders of magnitude lower than PML with aluminum. Thus, it is proposed to combine a PML base coat and the necessary TCO transparent electrode layer, to form a barrier and solve the permeability problem of plastic substrates. This PML base coat layer should also provide a pristine surface for nucleation of the deposited TCO. Therefore, the surface resistivity of the TCO should be lower, for a given film thickness, due to its improved microstructure. The experimental results for an evaporated acrylic base coat on PET substrate, follow by DC sputtering of ITO from a ceramic target in a single pass through a web coater, are reported. Results for ITO sputtered directly onto the PET substrate without the smoothing base coat are also reported. The optical, electrical and barrier properties for both constructions were measured and compared. Three-layer constructions are also considered with, for example, a silicon dioxide barrier layer deposited either onto the PET substrate, TCO or on the base coat. The potential benefits of these configurations are compared with the two-layer configuration results reported.