Back in January, Sony and TCL announced that the former would sell 51% of its stake in its home entertainment business to the latter. At the time, both companies said that a “definitive binding agreement” would happen “by the end of March 2026”. It’s been recently revealed that this comes in the form of the joint venture called Bravia, Inc.
As per the announcement back then, TCL owns 51% of the joint venture, while Sony holds the remaining 49%. That being said, TechRadar reports that TVs made by the JV will still be branded as Sony Bravia products. Similarly, the JV will be headquartered in Tokyo, or more specifically, Sony’s Osaki office. Going even further, Kazuo Kii, noted by the report as a Sony veteran, will serve as its CEO. The board will be a bit more balanced, with two reps from each company.
Still To Be Called Sony Bravia
With the JV continuing to carry the Sony Bravia name, it will go beyond just making TVs. The report cites a rep who says “Bravia, Inc will succeed Sony’s home entertainment business, and includes product development and design, manufacturing, sales and logistics, and customer service for products such as consumer TVs, B2B flat panel displays, B2B LED displays, projectors, and home audio equipment such as home theatre systems and audio components”.
All that being said, it looks like it will be awhile before we see any of these new-generation Sony Bravia products. This is because the joint venture is supposed to start operations in April of 2027. In the meantime, it looks like the Japanese company may still continue to release more products.
But when it does happen, it would be interesting to see if the brand, under different management, will be continuing what it does best or doing something else entirely. The report notes that the existing Sony Bravia branding is known for its OLED TVs. TCL, on the other hand, has mostly been more of a mini-LED company.
(Source: TechRadar)
