Sony to hand off TV business to joint venture with China’s TCL
January 21, 2026 at 17:29 JST
Sony Corp.’s Bravia television with an OLED screen in 2017 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Sony Group Corp. is spinning off its long-struggling television business, once a flagship of its consumer electronics offerings.
Its consumer electronics subsidiary Sony Corp. announced on Jan. 20 that it will transfer the TV and audio equipment business to a joint venture with major Chinese home appliance maker TCL Electronics Holdings Ltd.
The two companies, which reached a basic agreement on the partnership on the same day, plan to sign a final contract by the end of March.
TCL will own 51 percent of the venture while Sony will hold the remainder. Operations are expected to begin in April 2027.
Sony has marketed its televisions under the Bravia brand. Both Sony and Bravia names will continue to appear on the new company's products.
The joint venture will be responsible for the entire process on a global scale, from product development and design to manufacturing and sales.
With Sony carving out its TV business, Panasonic Holdings Corp. will be the only Japanese company still manufacturing televisions in-house, aside from Sharp Corp., which was acquired by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
In Japan, domestic TV manufacturers have been fighting an uphill battle against Chinese rivals.
According to the BCN Research Institute, Chinese-affiliated companies such as TCL and Hisense Group, which acquired Toshiba Corp.’s TV business, for the first time accounted for more than half of domestic unit sales of flat-panel televisions in 2024.
Sony’s share was less than 10 percent.
Sony first released a television in 1960. Eight years later, it rolled out the Trinitron cathode-ray tube televisions, which became a sensation for their high picture quality.
Later, thin-screen models also proved popular, establishing televisions as one of Sony’s flagship consumer electronics offerings.
But since the 2000s, the company has lost ground amid intense price competition with overseas rivals, particularly from China and South Korea.
Revenue from the TV business fell to 564 billion yen ($3.56 billion) in fiscal 2024, down nearly 10 percent from the previous year.
Sales of the consumer electronics operations, which include televisions, accounted for less than 20 percent of Sony Group’s overall revenue.
The group is marking its 80th anniversary this year, and has shifted its focus toward entertainment sectors, such as games, films and music, in recent years.
These businesses now account for about 60 percent of the company’s total revenue.
