It’s the end of the TV world as we know it (and I feel fine)

News arrived this week of new Panasonic TVs, announced at the company’s Experience Event held on the outskirts of Munich, but new TVs weren’t the main focus as a big change was taking place at the event.

Panasonic had entered into a strategic partnership with Shenzen Skyworth Display Technology Ltd.

While that doesn’t sound massive, it is rather sizeable. Much like the Sony and TCL partnership that was announced earlier in 2026, it’s another brand with a storied history in the home entertainment market that’s loosened its grip on its home cinema products and asked for help from others.

And I think I’m okay with it. Just about…

The fall of a giant or a Phoenix from the flames?

It would be worse, really, if Panasonic had announced that it was completely selling off its TV division. The writing was on the wall almost a year ago when there were signs that the TV division was not the profit centre that Panasonic had hoped it’d be.

The push back into America was initially a sign of confidence that the TV division could be resurgent, but a flag that looked distinctly white was being waved around and suitors seemingly asked to come and have a peek at what Panasonic had to offer.

That Panasonic still retains an element of control is, I think, a good thing. There are still unknowns about Skyworth. I don’t believe Trusted Reviews has ever reviewed a TV from them, so I couldn’t tell what they’re like.

While I’m familiar with the name, the impression I’ve had about the brand over the years is that it is about budget and quantity, and not necessarily beating others when it comes to quality. It remains to be seen whether it can step up in that regard, and as a result, I’m sceptical. But then that should be a challenge that Skyworth rises to.

It does offer Panasonic a production scale and possibly a marketing reach that, surprisingly for a company of Panasonic’s size, it could not achieve on its own. It’s not just ‘scale’ and ‘reach’ that Panasonic are after, but unlocking the mysteries of producing TVs at a lower price that its Chinese rivals have figured out.

I’m always worried when the word DNA is invoked, as it was a few times during Panasonic’s Plenary session, as it never really reassures.

DNA is the word you don’t want people to bring up, as it inevitably sparks questions about what a company’s DNA is and answers that wildly diverge based on what people think of the brand. What a company’s DNA is known is not necessarily what it was twenty years ago.

If Panasonic knew what its own DNA was, wouldn’t it know how to fix the problem and not seek a transfusion from another source? Does this deal represent the fall of a giant, or are we about to see a resurrection of one? I guess it depends on your perspective and what happens next.

So while I’m disappointed by the outcome, I’m not necessarily glum. Panasonic has made some cracking TVs – the Z90B is a recent favourite of mine –, but there’s no doubting that the sands of the TV industry have shifted, and it’s been slow to adapt.

For what it’s worth, I think the focus on premium OLED TVs was not the best move, or at least it focused on producing too many in a market segment that’s dominated by LG (and now, also, Samsung).

I think Sony came to this realisation a few years ago and put the brakes on its OLED output and shifted to Mini LED. Panasonic needed to embrace similar change, and its 2026 TV line-up now features several Mini LED TVs, a jump from the one that was available in 2025.

The benefit, much like Sony, is that Panasonic stays in the TV market. There’s been a fair amount of talk about the Sony/TCL deal and who has ‘control’ in that partnership, but I can’t see Sony relinquishing its hold on the tech that it created, especially as it’s a step up on what TCL has developed.

The same, I think, applies to this Panasonic/Skyworth partnership, though Skyworth isn’t the equal of TCL, and it’s here where the main worry lies. Skyworth is a “top-five global TV brand” and yet I can’t think of much about them beyond budget/value TVs.

Panasonic’s TVs stand for quality, and any drop in performance will affect the perception of the brand. Having been big names in the 90s, the Japanese TV brands have been usurped by Korea and now China. So while it’s great that the Panasonic name remains in the TV world, but if anything, the tough work of making Panasonic great again is just about to begin.