Fans of Philips-branded televisions in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be glad to know that Japan’s Funai Corp. reached a “multi-year” agreement last week to continue producing and marketing Philips-branded televisions, Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD players in North America.
Since Royal Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands decided to license off its brandname to other manufacturers a decade ago, Funai has used the moniker to produce lines of value-priced televisions and disc players for sale through leading department store and big box chains, including Wal-Mart.
Funai also markets similar products in North America under the Magnavox, Funai and Sanyo brands.
In other parts of the world Philips-branded televisions are manufacturered and marketed by China-based TPV, which is a leading OEM assembler of televisions for a variety of major brands.
Televisions sold by both Funai and TPV under the Philips trademark often integrate technologies that are developed and licensed by the original Royal Philips Electronics, but the final products made by Funai and TPV are usually significantly different from each other.
Amazon’s Camera, Photo & Video Deals
Amazon Fire TV 4K Ultra HD Set-Top Media Adapter with Alexa
Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote
Amazon Echo Plus Voice Controlled Wireless Speaker and Home System Interface
Amazon Echo Dot Voice Controlled Home System Interface
Amazon Echo Spot with Alexa and Screen
4K Ultra HDTV Specials From Abt
Best Selling Soundbars and 5.1 Surround Systems
“We’re delighted to announce the extension of our agreement with Royal Philips,” said Ryo Fukuda, Funai Corporation president and COO. “It’s been a very successful partnership for nearly a decade, and we’re excited that we will continue to have the opportunity to represent these great brands.”
“Philips is excited to extend the North America TV brand license with Funai for the additional term,” said Andrew Mintz, Head of Global Brand Licensing at Philips. “Funai has been a valued partner of Philips in North America since 2008.”
Prior to licensing the Philips and its Magnavox brands, Funai was a key OEM partner for Royal Philips for nearly 30 years.
Funai is expected to be one of the first television manufacturers, along with LG Electronics, to produce 4K Ultra HDTVs supporting the jointly developed Philips/Technicolor HDR profile, that uses dynamic metadata like Dolby Vision and HDR10+, yet is still backward compatible with SDR sets.
By Greg Tarr
Have a question for the HD Guru? HD GURU|Email
Copyright ©2018 HD Guru Inc. All rights reserved. HD GURU is a registered trademark.
Stay connected