It's Official: Sony Spins Off Iconic Television Business

If this means Sony is able to put more money, time, and effort in the entertainment side of things, I am all for it.

The next once respected TV brand becoming a name for inferior products from other countries. Everybody knew what a Trinitron was. The pinnacle of CRT technology.

Ok I don't follow the technology on TVs at all. I game and work on PC monitors and I have an old 720 tv for the occasional football match.

That said I cannot be the only one that has never heard of TCL before right?

TV division majority owned by TCL? You've got to be joking....no wonder TCL made sure they got the rights to put the Sony branding on their crap!

Seems likely my current A95L - which is utterly incredible, and leagues ahead of the rest including LG - will be the last of a long line of Sony TV's I've owned.

“Despite this, TCL is expected to retain the ‘Sony’ and ‘Bravia’ branding for future products,“

They better get that in writing because you see what Disney did to the creator of Star Wars 👀

Sounds like a watering down of the Sony brand, as it'll get slapped onto $100 TVs at Walmart.

Well this is the end of Sony making televisions I would be willing to buy. Sticking to Samsung and LG. Sony used to mean Japanese quality, but not anymore, now it just means rebranded Chinese junk.

@Kriandis I'm fairly certain that's not at all what this means. I don't see how this would affect their entertainment side whatsoever.

Admittedly I don’t know how these things work exactly but spinning off their tv business into a “joint venture” w/ TCL that Sony will still own 49% of the new company doesn’t sound like Sony is completely out of the tv game to me, especially with Sony and Brava still being printed on the TVs themselves.

I’m guessing Sony is more of a marketing partner at this point than a manufacturer or innovator but they’ll still be getting paid so it still sounds like they’re in the tv business to me.

I read everything these days as tax advantage business transactions, great for a few company owners, bad for the employees and customers.

You all read about Saks et al? Shell games and ponzu schemes.🤑

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/14/saks-global-files-for-bankruptcy-protection.html

Genuinely crazy. My Bravia from 2007 lasted about 13 years, they’re very good TVs or at least were back then. Always wanted a Sony CRT too. As long as the quality is consistent then I get where they’re going with this, partnering with a Chinese firm makes manufacturing so much easier. Sony branding still being on the tellies makes quality key too, as blowback will be on them, not TCL.

My main is still a 10 year old Sony. Its not even a 4k TV and people still come over and talk about the quality of the image. Sony made, imo, the best picture tellies in the business. You paid for it but it was worth it. I guess it'll only be Samsung moving forward for me unless anybody has a better recommendation. Ive had 2 utterly garbage LGs.

@Can-You-Believe-Sith I feel like the branding is half of the deal.

@rjejr I mean, that's exactly it. They'll be a "marketing partner." They used to have some of the best engineering and quality in the industry, and are now being reduced to a recognizable name.

Sure, they're still technically in the TV business, but not really in a notable capacity. And it was a long time coming, but indeed the end of an era.

Outside of Playstation consoles I don't bother with Sony's other products, I used to in the past like their phones and headphones but the competition offered better and at a cheaper price. They tried to be too premium with everything, but these Chinese companies can beat Sony on price everytime.

I think this is a smart move, TCL was going to take over the TV market eventually anyway, well them or Hisense. The same way BYD got the EV market or Huawei was going to become #1 in smartphones until the ban.

If they pair Sony's best in class image processing with some of TCL's best panels then this could lead to some really good TVs still and hopefully more affordable since they should be a bit cheaper to produce this way.

TCL is not a bad brand, but I do not expect their quality to improve, rather decline. Guess now we have to think twice about purchasing Sony Entertainment Peripherals.

I have a bought plenty of their panels over the years even back when CRTs was thing because usually they are or was the premium, flagship type of TVs that got/get the extra amount of time put into them for better colour accuracy and what not but recently, about a decade ago, I stopped buying them because I just didn't see the point anymore due to the fact that other competing companies starting doing them similar for less.

If they start getting cheaper with the same amount of quality I may start buying their panels again but who knows. It's the same with their Xperia line but that's because it's just a phone at the end of day.

I still enjoy buying their audio products though which I bought a MHC-V73D recently but let's see how that goes also.

@RoomWithaMoose
Less money put into the R&D television side, and also less in manufacturing/packaging/shipping of the televisions, means more money for their entertainment side.
TCL is taking that side of things over, which frees up more money for Sony to spend on the entertainment (Movies & Gaming) side of their operations.

@Kriandis Business structure isn't that simple. Even if this deal is just a blanketed net positive for their TV division, I would expect that extra funding to go into other hardware departments before going to entertainment.

After all, PlayStation, movies, and TV are all already profitable. What would a fraction of extra funding do for those divisions? And would that even translate to the consumer?

I had some of their CRT TV's back in the day. They were excellent.

But that was up against brands like Phillips or Toshiba in those days.

In the past decade or so I've found their offerings disappointing and lacking key features especially for gaming. They were easily rejected in favour of LG or Samsung's.

I never fell for the promises/lies of some of the missing features being added later via firmware updates etc.

Despite the fond memories, I won't be shedding a tear. They simply weren't good enough. They became to TV's, what Kodak became to cameras.

@nessisonett I'm genuinely shocked you didn't protest. Genuinely.

I had a 4k samsung that died on me after 2 years this past christmas, pos just decided to die on me out of nowhere while I was watching it.

***** Samsung.

Not Sony but I had to vent.

@TheArt It’s at the point where Sony partnering with an American firm would be more controversial and result in worse quality. Chinese tech is in a much much better place than it was even 10 years ago.

@OldGamer999
I'm sure you were telling me a week or so ago that you didnt like Sony TVs any more; that they were penny pinching because of only 2 HDMI2.1 ports, and that you sold yours to buy a Samsung, which was far superior TV brand now??

My first widescreen tv was a Sony 28”. Think I paid £800 for it back in the late 90’s

@1970sGamer You know that Sony doesnt make TV panels? Only software/hardware for image processing etc. TCL makes panels. And they have big plans to join fight vs LG and Samsung with their own OLED panels.

Always wanted an A95, they look so good. My Samsung QD-OLEDs are carrying a lot of weight tho considering how much more affordable they are. Glad they’re at least not going to Samsung or LG so there’s still competition at the top.

@nessisonett wins the thread with his logic and rationale.

I have been a Sony shareholder for about a decade now and during that time, they've made many decisions I didn't agree with, some of which turned out OK and some did not. Regarding this announcement, it seems to me as a net positive because TVs are low margin. That gives Sony two options: raise the prices or sell even fewer TVs. Considering raising the price, especially with the cosmic sh*t storm going on in the USA, will also result in fewer TV sales, it's a lose-lose proposition. This joint venture will allow Sony to cut the costs of manufacturing their TVs to make the margins healthier and very well should make the Bravia brand just as good, but cheaper to make and buy. That's in theory, anyway. I hope it works out...

I never owned a Sony TV due to how pricey they were but I do own a Sony Bluetooth speaker and the quality is really good.

@KingElites Sony uses Samsung and LG Oled panels

I get letting them use the Bravia branding but its a horrible idea to let them use the Sony name and logo

Counterpoint: I’ve had great experiences with TCL TV’s, which have been affordable and issue-free. Maybe I’m an outlier? Bought one years ago that we still use, got one for a family member which they still use, and was hand-me-downed a QLED one which looks phenomenal. I’ve since moved on to a LG OLED, but these TV’s all work great. So… not the end of the world?

Haven't rated Sony products for a while now (excluding PlayStation), especially their TVs. Last 3 large LCDs I got from them ALL had faults/firmware issues or delays. Basically was paying premium price for the name. Last large screen TV I got was a Hisense, and it's been stunning!

Actually feel a pinch of sadness about this. I worked the twilight shift at Sony Pen Coed making trinitrons back when I was doing my A-levels (a loooonnnggg time ago). It always struck me what a proud company they were… how spotless the factory floor was… and how proud they were that their TV’s were the best of the mass-market TV’s.

Well, I now feel even older than I did before reading this article, as well as sadder.. well done!

@ear_wig . I have one as well. I have no problems with it. Gaming mode can do 120 hz.

It's a joint venture, not TCL bought Sony TV and audio share.

I never heard of TCL though but i used to owned Sony's CRT. The TV was solid and worked for more than a decade until it's completely dead. Since then i owned Samsung or LG tv.

I used to love Sony TV’s. I still kind of do. But for gaming they are slower than LG C series. Have 2 less HDMI 2.1 ports due to the motherboard Sony uses. Cost more and are more focused on Cinema than gaming. So i just stopped buying them back in the early PS4 days. My LG oled’s for PS5 and Series X and Switch 2 have been amazing. Have no reason to regret my change.

@JJtheTexan After my original comment I checked and a lot of local shops have them. They are a bit cheaper than the better known brands. I guess I did not know the brand because I was never interested in TVs in general.

@RoomWithaMoose

I literally is that simple, as this article states
https://www.tomsguide.com/tvs/sony-just-handed-its-tv-business-to-tcl-heres-what-it-means-for-you
I do not understand why people feel the need to argue about something online about something that is so straight cut and forward.
It will not take affect until 2027, per article, but it will allow Sony to put money elsewhere.
There is no other reason for Sony to do it, other than freeing up capital.
Simple Economics.

@Kriandis Tom's Guide is not an authority on Sony's financials.

Sony's a big corporation; not every spare dollar is going to be funneled into any one division. And not every dollar of profit is going to be reinvested into its infrastructure.

Believe me, Naughty Dog doesn't have to crunch for Intergalactic because Sony's TVs were too much of drain on capital. And it's development isn't going to go faster now that the TV division might be more profitable and less resource intensive.

EDIT: Admittedly, I did not read your article before posting — because I think anything they might've said was irrelevant. Now that I have read it, what part exactly corroborates your claim?

@Nyne11Tyme i just upgraded my sony tv to another sony tv which is the a90k the picture looks amazing and has all the stuff that the ps5 pro does well. people seem worried but i doubt they'll get rid of the high end sony tv's , i'm sure you'll see more in between stuff , but im not too worried about the better tv's , maybe they'll be cheaper , im sure they'll make more lower end tv's which im fine with as long as they make the better ones as well.

Expected as Sony is expected to move away from hardware and focus on the much more profitable entertainment, services, and software side of the business. I expect PlayStation to go the same way after the PS6.

TCL have made panels for Sony, for years now.
And the latest TCL displays have been great, with better viewing angles.
If I didn't own an Oled, then I would probably pick up a high end TCL. Great gaming TV:s as well, with some of the lowest input lag on the market.

Always bought Sony TV's. Just knew I'd be getting a quality TV that'll last. Nothing sounds like that guarantee will no longer be the case. Sad news.

My Bravia TV is the best I’ve ever owned. I definitely hope they keep making them!

@ear_wig I’ve been looking at a few 100” TV’s and TCL keep coming up in all the stuff I’m reading or watching. Theirs is 1 of 3 I’m looking at, LG and Samsung being the other 2. Moving in June, so I’ll be pulling the trigger on one then. Maybe TCL will be the way I go, let’s see.

Oh boy, this is a shame, their TV and audio is top notch and has lasted years in my case, it's going to take a nosedive soon enough 😤

I own an Inzone monitor from Sony. It's brilliant. I hope this does not affect that side of their business.

Such a shame.
TCL won't get a dime from me.

@arsmolinarc same with both brands, LG too, they never last past the standard Warranty, will never touch them again

@EYEBALL I have the same speaker (MHC-V73D) in my setup I've had it for more than 5 years or so, still holding up. 👍🏿

I've been seeing a lot of TCL TVs on Amazon lately. I used to think it was a low budget company. Coz the TVs were so cheap. So I was a bit reluctant from buying from them, thinking maybe it might not be good.

Nice to know. I'll stay away from Sony branded TV's in the future. It's a weird move though. Selling of the TV business is one thing. Selling their brand name to a chinese budget shop is another thing. It might cause irreversable damage to the Sony brand as a whole. Very strange. Though times at Sony HQ?

TCL and Hisense make pretty good tvs

I got the 2020 Sony TV model X950H, after owning an LG OLED TV which got burn-in (during a 2 year period) and LG customer service was horrible. I like the Sony TV and I would have chosen the brand again for a future TV, but now I'm not sure if TCL can keep up the same production quality.

Having tested Android TV from both Sony and TCL, I can say the software is much more polished on the TCL.

Sony is an absolute turd when it comes to firmware and it's the only TV I've ever owned that crashed several times a day. And Sony took over a year to finally fix it.

I wouldn't buy a Sony TV because of my catastrophic experience, but I'd buy Bravia from TCL.

That's a shame ,I love sony products ,although I have an LG oled which is amazing and LG produce the panels for other company's,,I've always preferred lg's ui which is fantastic ,alot of oled tvs are so so gd these days from the top main company's, sony I think do have the best motion processing,I used to have a trinitron sony tv which was fantastic

Interesting, "Sony" TVs will soon be a whole lot cheaper.

TCL probably be better to price them in line with Samsung and lg models as charging cheap TCL prices will probably make the Sony branding feel about as premium as Hitachi in a few years

Does sadly feel like the end of an era somehow, even if they haven’t exactly left the TV space. But business wise i understand the move. TV hardware is a low profit margin business, and TCL is doing much better in that space. So if TCL panels can benefit from Sony’s tech expertise and sell them cheaper, it’ll be a win for everyone including consumers. This way Sony doesnt have to bother selling TV’s and let TCL do what they do best while they benefit from it, and Sony can do whay they do they best nowadays, which is more on the entertainment side rather than hardware

I think Sony done something similar with the Xperia phones. I'm pretty sure I read that the only things on Xperia's now which are 'Sony' are the camera tech and audio processing, the rest of the phone is assembled elsewhere

@REALAIS Sony dont make panels you are correct, but for Sony TV's its usually LG panels they use.

The move to TCL is worrying.

SONY hardware is dead. Consoles are a fading tech, likely not a requirement within 10 years.

Looking at all of the comments, it's very clear that most people here don't know a whole lot about tvs. They simply hear a name like Sony and think it's going to be the best tv they ever owned... they hear TCL and assume it's going to be the worst. All of that is quite uneducated. For example, comparing one of TCL's top end 2025 models to Sonys 2025 model that is in the same price range.

TCL QM8K:
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tcl/qm8k

2025 Sony Bravia 7:
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/bravia-7-qled

The thing a lot of people don't understand is that every brand has their low, mid, and high end sets. You can't simply compare brand names, you also have to take model numbers into consideration. For another example, compare the TCL above to the following... also a 2025 Sony Bravia:

2025 Sony Bravia 2:
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/bravia-2-ii

Now, try to tell me that Bravia 2 is better than the TCL. Also, the Bravia 8 OLED is literally WORSE than the TCL and the Bravia 7 QLED. Then we have the Bravia 9, that the TCL VERY easily stands toe to toe with. As has also already been pointed out, Sony don't even make their own panels. TCL makes them.

I own the 75" TCL QM8K and it's simply amazing. Sorry some of you must have owned one of the TCL models where you can get 75" for $300 and wonder why isn't a not very good tv, and then think you should have bought the $300 Sony instead... thinking it was going to be better just because of the brand name.

@JalapenoSpiceLife Yeah man, that's about the same time for me but mine is on its way out I think because I've abused it rotten by putting it on the back of a trailor that gets attached to a bike in the summer with the lads 🙃😅

Good times.

I guess our 75" Bravia 9 that we bought only a few months ago will be our last Sony TV, unfortunately. End of an era indeed.

ngl, I've had two affordably priced TCL TVs for years now and they're both fantastic, no issues whatsoever. I bought them at a point when I was in grad school and didn't have much expendable income, needed budget screens that still looked good; I did a ton of research at the time, and it was clear TCL's budget offerings were far better than the competition. I'm not an image quality obsessive, but these look significantly nicer than any previous TV's I've had and I don't see any reason to upgrade until they crap out.

I actually used to work on the Sony Pictures Studio backlot and they had a discounted Sony Electronics store for employees. As a result, I bought several Sony TVs over the years; they were great TVs, but the MSRP was always significantly inflated compared to comparable models and the UI for their earlier smart TVs wasn't great. (I'm sure that's improved by now, but it was noticeably bad back then.) If I wasn't getting a steep discount I would have bought elsewhere, which is what led me to the TCLs later on.

I've been using a Sony Bravia since I was old enough to buy my own TVs. I need to upgrade my TV this year, and I gotta tell ya, this gives me pause as to whether now is the time to break away from Sony and try something else.

The most important part, which will save Sony a lot of money, that they can then put towards other entertainment ventures

"The new company will handle everything from product development and manufacturing to sales, logistics, and customer support on a global scale. If all regulatory approvals go through, operations are expected to begin in April 2027."

TCL makes great budget televisions. I'm a little confused, though, does this mean we will no longer see TCL on TVs? TCL has the control with the Sony name?

Well there goes the true Sony TVs of the past. TLC are fine but yeah it won't be the same of quality that's for sure.

I'll "BEE" mourning these TVs! (B for Bravia)

@REALAIS I knew they used LG, did not realize they used Samsung too. Their video processing is superior from what I have seen tho, and that is the part that forces Samsung and LG to keep their video processing game up too. (You know, or “capitalism” and they all just do what they want since it’s our only options).

@KingElites (W)OLED is LG, QD-OLED is Samsung panel.

Well I guess it’s a Panasonic OLED for me once my current Sony dies, I hope it’s not for a while.

Like a lot of sectors, there is simply too much competition for Sony to succeed now. Vaio, Xperia, Sony TV’s, they were all effectively crowded out of the market leading to reorganisations or sell offs, in whole or part.

Sony haven’t had a decent market share of TVs for years and simply don’t have the economies of scale to compete on pricing with the competition. while you might profit more on high end sets, you won’t sell enough of them. It’s a vicious cycle. Unlike the CRT days where they made tubes for themselves as well as selling them to other brands, they are buying in all their flat panels which raises costs.

LG succeed in displays in the same way that Sony succeeds in cameras, make the key component in house for your own gear and then sell the same components to other brands which reduces the costs for your own products through scale.

I actually encouraged a relative to go for a 65" mini led TCL it was packed with good technology think it was greater than 120hz, loads of hdmi 2.2 sockets, it was the best he could get for the money, trouble is I know nothing about how they stand up over time. Too much tech is throw away these day. I'm still using a Quad 303 power amp that bought 2nd hand 30yrs ago for my rear speakers, it's got to be nearly 60 yrs old and still sound great.

Can some clarify this more me:

"The consideration payable by TCL is assumed to be approximately 75.4 billion yen (equivalent to approximately HK$3.8 billion*) at present..."

So is TCL PAYING Sony all of this money to basically buy their TV and audio equipment business, in the same week Sony is raising the prices on PS5s b/c it needs the money? 🤑

This sucks I only like Sony TV's. I feel like they have the best picture quality. Looks like when I need a new TV I'll have to go Samsung.

As much as I cant stand Sony as a company, their TV's have been among the best I have used in years. it's either my own luck, or I bad luck with TV's, but Samsung and LG TV's have always been crap whenever I used them. Always an issue or bad screen tearing when watching some fast paced sports games.
Thankfully I am not in the market for a new TV since my current one has been great (85X900H). But when the time does come, I guess I will start having to do my homework because all the other brands are hit or miss apparently.

Sony TV's were outrageously priced, especially the OLED's, 50-100% above the competition. They may have been a bit better in some areas (up-scaling low res content especially), but that never justified the price difference.
Not to mention they were VERY slow in adopting newer standards, making updates etc.

TCL on the other hand sells tons of TV because of accessible prices. They may not be the very best, but they are almost always a good deal cheaper compared to competitors, while including a lot of the new available technologies.
Price / performance ratio that appeals a LOT more to buyers, especially in recent years given the global economic climate...

Failing to read the market and clients demands, and adapt to them, is one of Sony's management biggest flaws (not just in TV's), hopefully they learned something from it this time (most likely not...)

@AnginaPectoris i'm sure there will still be plenty of tv's for sale , they make more then what they sell , i bought a a90k tv this year and its pretty amazing. i said it in another post i'm sure they'll keep the higher end bravia tv's since they do well and sony still has some say as they are part owners , but i'm sure you'll see some lower tier and mid tier price tv's in their line up as well.