Sony is handing over majority control of its television and home audio business to TCL, the Chinese electronics giant that’s been quietly dominating the budget TV market for years.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed by both companies, TCL will own 51% of a new joint venture while Sony keeps 49%.
The deal is a major shift for Sony, once the undisputed king of premium televisions. Now it’s essentially admitting it can’t compete alone in a market that’s become brutally competitive and increasingly dominated by Chinese manufacturers offering solid specs at aggressive prices.
TCL will get access to Sony’s Bravia brand name, its image processing technology, and decades of AV expertise. Sony will get access to TCL’s massive manufacturing scale, its display technology, and crucially, a more reliable supply chain for TV panels at better prices.
The new company will handle everything from design and development to manufacturing and sales for both TVs and home audio gear, all while keeping the Sony and Bravia names on the products.
Both companies are targeting the end of March to finalize binding agreements, with operations planned to start in April 2027 pending regulatory approval.
This partnership simply reveals the harsh reality of the modern TV industry. Margins have collapsed, people are holding onto their TVs longer, and Chinese manufacturers like TCL and Hisense have gotten scarily good at making competitive products for less money.
Japanese brands like Toshiba and Sharp have already bailed on TV manufacturing. Sony stopped making PCs in 2014 and quit Blu-ray production last year, focusing instead on more profitable ventures like movies, anime, and gaming.
The big question hanging over this deal is what happens to Sony’s OLED TVs? Sony doesn’t make its own OLED panels and currently sources them from other manufacturers, while TCL exclusively produces LCD displays.
TCL is working on inkjet-printed OLED technology, but it’s not ready for primetime yet. Whether the joint venture will allow Sony to keep buying OLED panels from competitors like LG Display remains unclear.
Most consumers won’t care, though, as this could mean cheaper Bravia-branded TVs that combine Sony’s picture processing with TCL’s cost efficiency and display tech.
