All TV brands, who owns them

Televisions are one of the electronic devices in every home and room. Televisions come under various brands, and many companies that make or have made televisions have invested in developing new technology and have gained the attention and respect of users. But TVs have changed a lot these days, and many companies cannot compete in the TV segment. So many companies have given up on making televisions, and you should know that four types of companies now deal with televisions.

• Companies that develop new technology and make televisions. There are very few of these companies left. Let’s call these companies the “Best TV Makers.”
• Companies that develop and produce TVs, whose primary focus is the mass production of their brands and custom-made ones, are OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) companies. They may also produce TVs of well-known brands on an outsourced basis. Or they lease the right to produce TVs under a specific brand name (producing TVs under license). There are few such companies, but they are huge.
• Companies that do not make TVs but produce their components. This applies mainly to the segment of the production of displays. About ten companies own the most advanced technologies for manufacturing displays.
• And some companies own a brand and sell TVs under this brand; they do not have factories, and they do not invest in development. These companies order TVs from OEMs and sell TVs under their brand.

Now, when you buy a TV from a well-known brand, the company that came up with the name for their TV stopped making it long ago, having sold their TV business along with the brand name. Or they sold the license to use the brand to another company. And you buy a TV and wonder why it’s not as good as you thought.

TV brands list, TV brand names list

Here is a list of the most famous brands of TVs; of course, it is incomplete. Many companies offer TVs under their brand name. They work very simply, register a brand in a country and then order TVs under that brand from OEM manufacturers or assemble TVs themselves from components produced by OEM. As an example, the Finlux TVs in the UK. 2009-2011, Finlux TVs were quite a significant part of the market. But by 2017, the market was almost lost. The reason is that the TVs were produced by the Turkish concern Vestel, which assembled TVs from components and could not compete in quality and technology with other brands.

TV brand	Brand registration country	Who now uses the brand	Who makes TVs
Bang & Olufsen (B&O)	Denmark	Bang & Olufsen (B&O)	LG production, B&Q supplements
Continental Edison	French	Casino store	China, production discontinued in 2020
Blaupunkt	Germany	Aurelius AG	Production outsourcing India, China
Grundig	Germany	Beko	Beko Turkey
Haier	China	Haier	Haier China
Hisense	China	Hisense	Hisense China
Hitachi	Japan	Hitachi	has not produced TVs since 2012; the televisions are produced by Vestel and Hisense under an outsourcing scheme.
Huawei	China	Huawei	OEM manufacturers in China
Hyundai	Korea	many companies	OEM manufacturers in China
Insignia	US	Best Buy	Hisense China
Element	US	Tsinghua Tongfang	Tsinghua Tongfang China (U.S. assembly)
Westinghouse	US	Tsinghua Tongfang	Tsinghua Tongfang China
THTF	China	Tsinghua Tongfang	Tsinghua Tongfang China
Seiki	US	Tsinghua Tongfang	Tsinghua Tongfang China
JVC	Japan	Shenzhen MTC for US, Canada. Vestel for Europe	Shenzhen MTC China, Vestel Turkey
Konka	China	Konka Group Co., Ltd	Konka China
LeEco	China	LeEco Smart Ecosystem	LeEco China
LG	Korea	LG	LG
Loewe	Germany	Skytec Group Ltd	Loewe
Motorola	US	Lenovo	Lenovo
Nevir	Spain	Nevir	China
Nokia	Finland	Flipkart India Private Limited	India
Oppo	China	Oppo	Oppo China (BBK subsidiary)
Panasonic	Japan	Panasonic	TPV China, Panasonic Malaysia
Philips	Netherlands	TP Vision Europe: Funai US, Canada	TPV China, Funai China
RCA	US	Curtis International	China
Samsung	Korea	Samsung	Samsung
Sceptre	US	Sceptre	China New Technology Group Co
Sharp	Japan	Sharp	SKYTEC UMC Management s. r. o. Slovakia
Skyworth	China	Skyworth	Hong Kong Skyworth Digital Holdings Co. China
Sony	Japan	Sony	Foxconn Taiwan, Premium TVs made by Sony Malaysia, Japan.
TCL	China	TCL	TCL China
Telefunken	Germany	Vestel	Vestel Turkey
Thomson	France	TCL	TCL China
Toshiba	Japan	Compal US; Vestel Europe; Other countries Hisense	Compal Electronics, Inc. Taiwan; Vestel Turkey; Hisense China
Vestel	Turkey	Vestel	Vestel Turkey
Vizio	US	Vizio	China
Funai	Japan	Funai	Funai
Polaroid	US	Vestel Europe: Empire Electronics US	Vestel Turkey; Empire Electronics
SunbriteTV	US	SnapAV	SnapAV US

Best TV brands in 2000-2023

When you are told the name of a television brand, you will immediately remember some TV brands from childhood or have heard of them. You can learn about what happened to popular TV brands and who makes TVs now.

The best TV brands from 2000-2014, the history of the fall of popular brands.

What brands of TVs were in the early 2000s? We can immediately remember the following brands: Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, and Funai – these are Japanese tv brands. Philips, Grundig, and Thompson are European brands. Vizio, Magnavox are American brands. LG and Samsung are Korean companies. During this period, Chinese companies were virtually unknown; at the time, they were starting to enter global markets.

By 2014, the mass withdrawal of television companies from the market was over. The reason was high competition and pressure from Chinese companies, which offered lower quality but cheaper TVs. Therefore, the television development divisions were sold or closed down. And the TV brands themselves, in most cases, were licensed to other companies or sold with them.

Toshiba, Philips, Thompson, Grundig, Magnavox, Sharp – these TV brands changed owners. TV assembly OEMs mainly bought them as brands with a history of using them to sell their TVs. But there is no unified policy in terms of production; the TVs of these brands have shifted to the budget segment and are gradually losing the market.

Old brands – LG, Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic – are leading the market. Although these brands also have problems.

The best TV brands from 2014 to the present

In 2014, the turbulence in the TV manufacturer market ended. As a result, only four premium TV manufacturers remained. The premium category A manufacturers are LG and Samsung. Category B are Sony and Panasonic. This is why LG and Samsung continue to develop displays, unlike Sony and Panasonic. Also, Samsung and LG use their operating systems for their TVs, while Panasonic and Sony use third-party operating systems to cut costs. They buy displays from third-party companies, although this is standard practice.

As I said before, companies that own the best TV brands also have market problems.

Samsung: couldn’t enter the Chinese market; you can’t find Samsung TVs and soundbars in Japan.
Panasonic: couldn’t compete in the U.S. and Canadian markets with their TVs and had to leave.
LG and Sony are under pressure from Chinese companies. They offer budget TVs at lower prices. And just in this segment, the buyer pays more attention to the product’s price than to other parameters.

Old TV brand names

Many people wonder what old TV brands still make TVs today. These are the same companies on the list of top brands Sony, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung. These companies started producing electronics in the ’60s of the 20th century. In the 21st century, there was a boom in Chinese companies, but in most cases, the televisions they produce are inferior to the advanced development of Japanese and Korean companies. China is actively buying up technology and display factories to enter the premium TV segment.

A brief overview of TV brands

Samsung: the Korean company, a leader in TV production, is investing in developing new technologies and producing and selling TVs under its Samsung brand. Until 2022, it was developing QLED display. In 2022, there were two significant events Samsung sold its Chinese factory to produce displays to the Chinese company TCL; this factory produced QLED panels, and now all Samsung LED TVs are equipped with third-party panels. The second event is that Samsung launched a factory to produce its QD-OLED panels. In 2022, the company’s OLED TVs. The TVs use the Tizen OS; this OS received the most significant kernel update in 2016.

LG: a company engaged in the development of new technologies and the production of televisions. It is currently, along with Samsung, one of the trendsetters and developers of new technologies. One of the most significant developments is the production of large OLED screens. LG also sells its OLED screens to other manufacturers. The operating system is called WebOS; OS is designed for Smart TVs. The TVs are of good quality; there are expensive models and models in the budget segment.

Suppose you are interested in who owns LG. LG Corporation owns about 30% of the stock, and about 50% is owned by various investment funds and private owners in Korea. About 20% of the shares are owned by foreign investors. Thanks to its investments in technology, the company has been a leader in the TV segment for the past ten years and is one of the top TV brands.

Panasonic: the Japanese company sells TVs under its brand and develops new technologies. It has not sold its TVs in the U.S. since 2014 and Canada since 2020. In 2016, it stopped producing its TV screens. Third-party manufacturers have made all screens installed in Panasonic TVs since 2017. Some TVs are outsourced, and the Chinese company TPV makes low-cost TVs for the European market. TPV also makes Philips TVs. OLED TVs and premium TVs are made in Malaysia at Panasonic factories. The TVs run Android or My Home Screen. Yes, and you can quickly tell that Panasonic or an OEM makes the TV. If the specs list the OS type as Smart TV or Smart TV (+ Foxxum AppStore), that TV model is outsourced, but if My Home Screen is Panasonic. My Home Screen is a modification of Firefox OS developed and supported by Panasonic.

Sony: it is a Japanese company that makes TVs under its brand; screens are mostly purchased from other manufacturers such as LG; until 2022, Sony bought OLED screens from LG, and in 2022 it bought OLED displays from Samsung. Sony’s TVs feature quality software, powerful processors, and ample storage capacity. Cheap TVs are made by outsourcing to other companies. The main manufacturer of TVs is the Taiwanese Foxconn Corporation. Sony’s factories in Japan and Malaysia assemble premium TVs for Singapore, Japan, and China. For the past few years, Sony has been using the Google TV platform in its TVs instead of Android TV. Sony was involved in the development of this platform.

Toshiba: Who owns Toshiba? In America, Toshiba sold its TV business in 2015 to Compal (including a plant in Mexico), a Japanese company that makes electronics for various brands. Compal is a major OEM. In other regions, Toshiba also stopped producing TVs in 2015. In Europe, Vestel, a Turkish company, makes TVs for Toshiba. And in late 2017, Toshiba announced the sale of its TV business to China’s Hisense. Now Toshiba televisions are produced by Hisense. It should be known that since 2018 Toshiba has given up developing visual solutions.

Bang & Olufsen (B&O): The Danish company produces premium televisions; LG produces the televisions themselves. But the company adds various exciting additions, such as its own TV body made of quality materials, motorized stands, natural wood finishes with high-end acoustics and exclusive remote controls made of metal with a display. Although LG makes the electronics of the TV, everything else is assembled in Denmark and the Czech Republic.

Blaupunkt: Originally a German company, it was controlled by the Bosch-Siemens group until 2008. In 2008, it was sold to the investment group Aurelius AG. After the sale of Blaupunkt, the Bosch-Siemens group retained the factories to produce components (only the assembly lines were sold). The new owner began to reduce production costs by transferring production to third countries; since 2011, all Blaupunkt products have been made in China on the assembly lines of third manufacturers. Naturally, the quality suffered, and many companies that had previously purchased products to install in their products (e.g., cars) refused to use them. In 2016, the company was declared bankrupt. In 2016, the company went into liquidation. The plants were sold, and the staff was laid off. Aurelius AG owns the brand; the Blaupunkt brand is still in use and leasing.

Continental Edison: During its history, the brand changed hands several times and ended up owned by the Casino financial group from France. The Turkish concern Vestel mainly produced televisions, and production was discontinued in 2020.

Funai:The corporation owns not only this brand, but also Magnavox, Philips (America), SANYO, Kodak (printers). It makes inexpensive televisions for the North American market under various brands such as Philips, Magnavox, Emerson Radio and Sanyo. Funai now buys or licenses brands to produce electronics under these brands. The main production is located in China.

Grundig: The history of the brand began in 1930, but during its existence, there have been both achievements and failures. Now the Grundig brand belongs to the Turkish company Beko. Beko is owned by the Turkish company Arçelik A.Ş., which produces household appliances and electronics. Arçelik A.Ş. is part of the Turkish Koç Holding A.Ş. Grundig no longer exists, only the brand name has survived, and Grundig has been liquidated. A Turkish company uses the Grundig brand. In Germany, the brand is represented by the Turkish company Beko Grundig Germany GmbH.

TV sets are assembled in Turkey, and different manufacturers, mainly in China, supply the components. Some models of TV sets may be ordered from OEM or ODM manufacturers. Although on the TVs for Germany and other European countries, Beko writes TV assembled in Europe. Although this is true, the factory is located in a geographical part of Turkey, which belongs to Europe.

Haier: Chinese brand Haier, a company known mainly for home appliances, in 2017-2018 was an attempt to enter global markets with a new product for the company TVs. The attempt was unsuccessful; the televisions showed good sales in some markets, and the company continues to produce televisions for Asia and China.

Hisense – It is a Chinese electronics manufacturer that produces about 50% of its own-brand televisions and also acquires licenses to produce televisions under other brands. In America, Hisense sold TVs under the Sharp brand until 2019; in other regions, it has been making TVs under the Toshiba brand since 2018. Hisense also owns the brands under which it manufactures and sells its products, such as Hitachi, Lucent, Matsushita, NEC, Sanyo, Toshiba, and Qualcomm. Hisense has electronics and display manufacturing plants. Supplies screens to other TV assemblers, such as Huawei TVs, have Hisense screens. One of the disadvantages of the company can be called the production policy. If you look at the company’s websites in different countries, you will find hundreds of models of TVs, and it needs to be clarified how to classify them. A separate topic is the operating systems; the company produces TVs with any open OS; you can find TVs with Android TV, Google TV, Roku TV, and Vidaa TV (Hisense OS). So, when choosing a TV, you must pay attention to this.

Hitachi: A Japanese corporation engaged in the production of electronics and industrial equipment. In 2010-2012, the corporation’s management decided to review its TV production policy. It was decided to sell all TV assembly plants; Japan’s last TV assembly plant was sold at the end of 2012. The corporation decided to outsource TV production. Hitachi sells televisions but does not manufacture them. Hitachi branded televisions are made to order. For Europe, televisions are assembled by Vestel, a Turkish concern. Televisions were assembled by the Chinese company Hisense for the U.S. and Canada. As you can understand, this policy is not a good solution in the long term and certainly did not contribute to the credibility of the brand. Hitachi America, Ltd. finally ceased all TV-related activities in the U.S. in 2020. Now Hitachi is cheap television with very mediocre parameters.

Huawei: The company was building its business along the lines of Cisco, but in 2019, it fell under sanctions. The company was denied access to technologies owned by the U.S., and exports of components were banned. To survive, the company moved from the corporate business and phone manufacturing segment to the consumer technology segment. The company began offering televisions, scales, and so on; televisions are made by OEMs in China. Without access to technology, the company earns by ordering TVs and third-party manufacturers but branding them with its name.

Hyundai: It has never produced consumer electronics, although the brand is recognizable mainly because of cars. Since Hyundai did not plan to produce televisions, it was decided to license the brand to produce televisions. Any company could buy the rights to use the brand and produce televisions under the Hyundai brand. Such companies did not make the televisions themselves but ordered them from OEMs. Now it is not easy to say who uses the brand; perhaps each country has its licensee.

Insignia TV: It is a brand owned by the Best Buy chain of stores in the United States. The televisions are mainly produced by the Chinese company Hisense. The TVs are positioned as inexpensive budget models. It is standard practice to register a brand and order products for it. One of the first companies to follow this path was Vizio.

Element Seiki, Westinghouse TV, THTF – These brands belong to the same company, namely China Tsinghua Tongfang. Several brands are registered or purchased for use under license to promote their televisions. The televisions are made in China. Some Element TVs are assembled from off-the-shelf components in the United States. The TVs in the budget segment are mainly aimed at the U.S. market.

JVC: JVC ceased production of TV sets in 2010, and the right to produce TV sets under the JVC brand was sold in 2011. Taiwanese company AmTran Video bought the license for the JVC brand for TV sets in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, in 2018 the license expired, and the right to sell TV sets was bought by the Chinese company Shenzhen MTC; it also has a license to sell TV sets in China and Korea, website in the United States https://jvcproducts.com/. In Europe, the license was bought by the Turkish company Vestel https://jvctv.eu/eu-en/. License holders are OEM electronics manufacturers, and the quality of TVs can vary quite a bit depending on the model; when choosing a TV, check real customers’ reviews.

Konka: It is a Chinese electronics manufacturer that produces TVs under its brand name. Of particular note, the company produces TVs on three platforms using different operating systems Android, LG’s Web OS, and its own Android add-on PTK 5.3. The company’s TV lineup includes OLED models with screens from LG and other manufacturers. There are TVs with Full HD resolution, which has been considered insufficient for a TV with a large diagonal screen for more than five years. According to reviews of previous TV owners in Konka OLED TVs panels, it turns out Konka uses unsold LG panels of previous generations. And speaking of WebOS in Konka TVs in 2022, the operating system is 2018-2019. Logically, LG wants to avoid creating a direct competitor, so the OS is not the newest.

LeEco (LeTV): This company is best known for wanting to buy Vizio, but the deal fell. The company made televisions in China, and its main markets were China, India, the United States, and Russia. Later, due to financial problems, the company withdrew from the global market. It was focusing its efforts in China. TVs are still produced now, but only for China http://www.letv.com/.

Loewe: The German company is a premium TV manufacturer. The televisions are expensive, and quality materials are used in the body materials, not only plastic but also steel. The TV model has several variants: a regular stand, a motorized stand, and a floor stand. The company has been on the verge of bankruptcy several times. As practice shows, most users do not care about ultra-expensive electronic devices, including Loewe TVs, for $8,000. Buyers of such TVs want to show their status, but everyone can see your expensive car but not the TV, so the market for such TVs is relatively tiny. The last crisis year for Loewe was 2019, and as a result, the company was taken over by Skytec Group Ltd, an Asian investment fund that invests in well-known brands to promote them and make profits. I note that Blaupunkt and SHARP were also invested in this fund. The company produces one or two TV models a year, which is relatively small.

Motorola TV: After the purchase of the mobile division of Motorola by the Chinese company Lenovo, an attempt was made to enter the world markets with televisions, for which the Motorola brand was chosen. In China, there is an overproduction of components, so it is possible to sell televisions. Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful; now, the televisions are assembled at a factory in India from components made in China. The market is mainly India and some other countries.

Nevir: The televisions are made in China. Nevir is a retail company operating in Spain and Portugal. So all the televisions are Chinese, and I have yet to find out who exactly makes them. Most likely, the case is that someone registered the brand and ordered televisions with the Nevir name in China. It does not particularly matter who makes the TVs; I would not buy such electronics.

Nokia: Nokia used to make televisions, the last television the company produced in 1995. In 1995, the production of televisions was discontinued. After the financial crisis, the company wondered why the Nokia brand for televisions was not profitable. The brand was licensed to Flipkart India Private Limited. This company sells Nokia televisions in India. It is not an electronics manufacturer; Flipkart India Private Limited is a big retailer in India like Amazon. So the televisions are made to order by OEMs, and the final assembly takes place in India to reduce taxes.

Oppo: is a Chinese brand and manufacturer of electronics of the same name. Oppo is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics. The televisions are manufactured in China and mainly for the Chinese market.

Philips: In 2010, Philips decided to stop producing televisions; the right to produce and sell Philips televisions was bought by the Chinese company TP Vision, which sells Philips televisions in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and some Asian countries. In the United States, Canada, and other North and South American countries, the Philips brand was bought by Funai Corporation, which makes and sells televisions under the brand. The quality of Philips TVs varies significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but overall the quality is mediocre. Philips maintains a single website for Philips-branded products.

RCA: was bought out by Technicolor, and the rights to sell televisions under license were transferred to Curtis International; televisions are ordered from OEMs under the RCA brand.

Sceptre: is an American brand, and the company is registered in the United States. OEM ODM manufacturers manufacture televisions in China. The primary manufacturer of TVs is China New Technology Group Co.

Sharp: a Japanese corporation operating in various industries, a leader in producing displays for commercial use. TV production has been unprofitable for several years. In 2015, the television manufacturing business in America, including a plant in Mexico, was sold to the Chinese company Hisense, and the license to sell Hisense TVs in America was also sold. Sharp later realized its mistake and tried to regain control of the North American market by attempting to terminate the agreement with Hisense in court. In 2019, an out-of-court agreement was reached to return Sharp’s license, with Hisense ceasing production of televisions for the U.S. and Canada beginning in 2019. In Europe, Sharp also abandoned the Sharp brand for televisions and licensed it to the Slovakian company UMC (Universal Media Corporation), which was not actively promoting it. Sharp Corporation only produced products for Japan, China, and Singapore; the company had a leading position in the TV market in these countries.

In 2019, the rights to the Sharp TV brand returned to Sharp, and there were plans to resume TV production in 2019 for North America, but that did not happen. In Europe, Sharp also decided to take back control of TV production. In 2016, shareholders in the new joint venture SKYTEC UMC Management s. r. o. were UMC (Universal Media Corporation) and Sharp. Sharp holds a controlling stake. Even though Sharp has a controlling stake, judging by the technical characteristics of the televisions, it was decided to focus production on the budget segment. 

Skyworth: Chinese electronics manufacturer, full name Hong Kong Skyworth Digital Holdings Co. Today, Skyworth is one of the leaders in the Chinese TV market. The company produces equipment not only under its brand name but also in OEM and ODM manufacturing of products under other companies’ brand names.

TCL: is a Chinese company producing various electronics. It ranks among the top three regarding the number of televisions produced: about 28 million televisions were produced in 2018. Televisions are mainly assembled in China, but some are assembled in other countries from components produced by TCL. TCL makes LCD panels for its TVs itself in its factories in China, with the first factory built in 2009 and the second in 2016. The range includes LCD and QLED displays, and there are plans to start producing OLED screens. The main number of TVs produced are low-cost TVs with Full HD and 4K resolution models. The low price is achieved by using cheap materials and components in TVs. For example, the screens have 4K resolution with a maximum frequency of 60 frames per second.

Telefunken: is a German company that produces various electronics; the TVs under the Telefunken brand are produced by the Turkish concern Profilio-Telra. Televisions do not occupy the expensive segment since cheap components are used in the assembly process. Since 2006, the TVs have been produced by Profilo Holding, a Turkish concern, and now the TVs are produced by Vestel, a Turkish concern.

Thomson: Technicolor bought Thomson, and in the future, the right to produce Thomson-branded televisions will be licensed to the Chinese concern TCL, which sells its televisions in Europe under the Thomson brand.

Vestel: is a Turkish concern, a prominent OEM manufacturer of electronics. It produces televisions both under its brand and to order.

Vizio: is an American company that sells televisions under the Vizio brand name; it does not manufacture televisions because it does not have manufacturing facilities but only sells and services its products. The televisions are manufactured in China and Mexico by third-party manufacturers. Vizio TVs are popular in the U.S., mostly budget TVs, although the company has had attempts to produce OLED TVs and quantum dot TVs. The company has been operating since 2002. Adheres to a solution that was new at the time. There is a brand registered in the USA. The production of TV sets is ordered under this brand. The warranty and post-warranty service is outsourced. The company itself is small, with a sales department whose task is to sell and a technical service which coordinates TV samples and software development, of course there are related departments such as logistics and service. In general, the costs are minimized, the pricing policy is aggressive TVs are cheaper than other models with the same screen size.

Polaroid: Polaroid went bankrupt in 2011; in Europe, Polaroid TVs are produced by Vestel, a Turkish concern. In the U.S., the brand belongs to PLR IP Holdings, the current licensee of Empire Electronics.

SunbriteTV: The brand is owned by SnapAV, which acquired SunbriteTV in 2015 and manufactures TVs positioned as outdoor equipment. The company designs TVs specifically to be environmentally friendly so they can be operated outdoors under shelters. The boards are protected from moisture, cooling is added, and so on. Components for TVs are purchased from various OEM and ODM manufacturers.

Supersonic: The brand is owned by Supersonic Inc, which specializes in the production of various electronics, including televisions.

Of course, this article does not talk about all brands of televisions. You have to understand that only a few dozen companies make TVs right now. Some companies have invested resources in creating and setting up OEM, ODM, and manufacturing. Most brands are just a name, these companies don’t have factories, and only a few may have development departments. This is standard practice; most electronic devices in today’s environment are manufactured this way.