Yesterday, Sony announced that it plans to enter a joint venture with Chinese TV manufacturer TCL, in which ownership of its TV business will be split almost in half.
I say almost, as TCL will technically become the majority stakeholder by owning 51 per cent of the business, whereas Sony will hold onto 49 per cent.
What does the future hold for Sony's home cinema products?
Sony's announcement rocked the world of TVs, but it almost ignored an equally important sector in which Sony is a major player.
While the future of Bravia TVs appears to be preserved, albeit shrouded in mystery, little was said about Sony's home cinema product ranges, which include its series of five-star home cinema projectors and its Award-winning TA-AN1000 home cinema amplifier.
Sony's statement simply made reference to "products including televisions and home audio equipment". The mention of home audio likely covers soundbars and the Bravia Quad system, and potentially the AV amplifier mentioned above, but it's a brief mention at that, and one that doesn't inspire huge confidence.
What's more unsettling is the uncertainty around the Bravia projectors. Cast your mind back to the end of 2024, when we almost lost the Bravia projector range entirely here in the UK and Europe due to European sales restrictions; however, that was thankfully resolved in May 2025.
Fast forward to now, and the total lack of reference to projectors in this statement is giving me a sense of unease that we might be about to lose them again.
TCL's mission here is to bring its cost-effective manufacturing processes to Sony's product portfolio, and I'm not sure how the almost £28,000 Bravia Projector 9 aligns with that.
The one saving grace here is to do with the Sony Professional subsidiary. This arm of Sony produces the brand's pro-orientated products, such as broadcast and medical equipment, as well as (you guessed it), projectors.
With this being a separate entity, Sony's projector division may continue to truck along independently.
While that's the preferred solution, we must also remember that there is a fair amount of crossover between the company's TVs and projectors. The Bravia XR Processor, with its long list of picture processing features is shared across both, so that may change in the future.
As is the case with the deal as a whole, there is a lot of uncertainty here. It would put my mind at rest if Sony confirmed the status of its projector business going forward, but it seems to be too early to make any definitive statements quite yet.
A confession: I didn’t see this coming, and I’m not sure how I feel about it
It’s generally ill-advised for an ‘expert’ to admit to not knowing something, but I’ve been writing about the TV industry for 18 years and have excellent contacts at Sony, yet I had no inkling that this (is it a merger, is it a takeover?) was coming.
What’s more, I still can’t figure out how to feel about it.
The optimistic hypothesis is that Sony will be able to continue doing what it does – focusing on the fine details, expertly tuning its TVs for maximum authenticity and squeezing every last drop of performance out of the hardware at its disposal – while benefiting from the increased scale and budget of TCL, potentially bringing prices down and pushing development even further.
While Sony has developed numerous interesting technologies itself, most notably in recent years, the advanced Mini LED backlighting that debuted with the Bravia 9 and has since trickled down (in slightly watered-down form) to the Bravia 7 and 5, it’s far behind TCL (and Hisense) in the numbers game.
Take the 65-inch versions of the Bravia 7 and similarly priced TCL C8K, for example: the former has just 480 dimming zones, while the latter has 1680 of them.
Sony does amazing work with its lower numbers, but imagine if it could combine its awesome processing and elegant backlight controls with 3-4 times as many zones, all while keeping prices lower.
But there’s also the nagging feeling that this could all be bad news for Sony TVs. Will the brand really be allowed to maintain its slower-than-most approach to development?
Will costs (and therefore quality) have to be cut in the name of greater scale?
Is this primarily about TCL leveraging the famous and much-loved Sony and Bravia names to give its TV business more credibility, rather than a quest for both brands to produce more and better TVs?
As much as it pains me to admit it, I just don’t know, at least not yet, and that’s making me rather nervous.
Scale is great, but Sony's strength has always been its attention to detail
The news that Sony is planning to sell the majority share of its home entertainment business to TCL is a big surprise, even for us. And for me, it’s a move that could help or hurt Sony’s TV offering.
Being the eternal optimist that I am, let’s start with the positives. TCL is a company on the ascendance, both from a market share and quality perspective.
Last year, I penned an opinion piece specifically detailing how much better its 2025 cheap and mid-range Mini LED sets (the TCL C6KS and TCL C7K) were than rivals, despite a mixed performance in 2024.
And its vast supply chain and deep pockets definitely could help Sony drive down costs, especially for its non-OLEDs.
But, the minor alarm bell I have going on in my head is that affordability and scale have never been what has made Sony TVs great and, being blunt, TCL's already better at it there – as evidenced by the difference between the five-star, Award-winning TCL C7K and three-star Bravia 3 last year.
Sony’s strength has always been in its flagship sets, and most recently, specifically the OLED market.
As evidenced by the Sony Bravia 8 II, which TV and AV editor Tom Parsons openly describes as “the best OLED” he’s ever tested, it’s the firm’s balanced, focused approach to delivering a solid, authentic picture quality in the top end that matters.
And here, the supply chain and perks TCL brings are less obvious. TCL famously doesn't make OLEDs and has long argued Mini LED is better, or at least the future, of the TV market.
And as a result, I’m slightly nervous that its involvement could hinder, not help, Sony’s offering in it. After all, Sony’s last attempt at a flagship Mini LED, the Bravia 9, was a good, not perfect, four-star set.
Here’s hoping I’m wrong…
As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em…
My initial thought when seeing the Sony/TCL news was one of shock, but having given it time to settle in, am I completely surprised? No, not really.
Rumours that Sony was looking to shed its TV division were rife over a decade ago, so you could say the writing has been on the wall for quite some time.
TV margins have shrunk drastically over the years, and with strong competition from LG and Samsung at the top end and mounting pressure from the likes of TCL and Hisense at the more affordable end of the TV market, it was probably the most sensible thing for Sony to do.
How does the old saying go? If you can’t beat them, join them.
If TCL keeps all the expertise behind Sony’s TV technologies in place, I’m actually quite excited to see what could happen for both brands.
TCL’s affordable flatscreens have made impressive strides in the last couple of years – the company won three What Hi-Fi? TV Awards last year after all – so who knows what they could achieve with access to Sony’s tech.
Similarly, if Sony can take advantage of TCL’s ability to produce at scale and make its costs more efficient, then who’s to say this partnership won’t be beneficial for Bravia TVs moving forward?
My fingers are well and truly crossed!
MORE:
Check out our full story covering the Sony/TCL partnership announcement
Read our full TCL C8K review
As well as our Sony Bravia 8 II review
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