Panasonic TVs could be heading back to the Australian market six years after the Japanese consumer electronics giant pulled the plug on local television sales, but any comeback could look very different from the Panasonic operation Australians remember.

ChannelNews understands  that Australian retailers attending IFA were questioned about the Australian maket by Chinese TV manufacturing giant Skyworth who apparently has been examining the Australian market after recently expanding Panasonic branded televisions into Canada under a strategic partnership with the Japanese company.

The move raises the prospect of Panasonic TVs returning to Australian retailers without Panasonic Australia’s local subsidiary necessarily being responsible for their manufacture, distribution or day to day television operation.

Panasonic branded TVs sold in Canada are being brought to market through a partnership between Panasonic and Shenzhen Skyworth Display Technology Co Ltd and related Skyworth companies.

Under the arrangement, Skyworth provides development, manufacturing and global scale, while Panasonic contributes its AV expertise and quality assurance standards.

The model potentially provides a blueprint for reintroducing Panasonic TVs into Australia without requiring Panasonic to rebuild the television infrastructure it dismantled when it quit the Australian market in 2020.

Panasonic were credited in the past with having the “best” TV’s

For Australian retailers, a return would also introduce another established brand into a TV market already fiercely contested by Samsung, LG, Hisense, TCL and other Chinese manufacturers.

Panasonic Brand Still Carries Weight

Panasonic’s departure from the Australian television market in 2020 ended decades of local history for what had once been one of the country’s most respected TV brands.

Panasonic televisions had been sold locally since at least the 1970s and became particularly prominent as Australian households transitioned from CRT televisions to flat panel displays.

Its strongest period arguably came during the plasma era.

Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung and LG were all major plasma manufacturers, but Panasonic developed an especially strong following among home theatre enthusiasts because of its emphasis on black levels, colour accuracy and cinematic picture reproduction.

That reputation was strengthened after Panasonic acquired key Pioneer plasma technology and intellectual property following Pioneer’s withdrawal from television manufacturing.

Pioneer’s legendary KURO televisions had become benchmarks for plasma black levels, with Panasonic subsequently gaining access to technology and engineering expertise associated with panel drive, cell structure and black level performance.

Panasonic’s VIERA plasma televisions subsequently became synonymous with deep blacks, natural colour reproduction and premium picture quality.

The company introduced the VIERA brand in 2004.

As late as 2013, Panasonic was still heavily committed to plasma in Australia.

Its Australian range that year included six new plasma models spanning the VT60, ST60 and S60 families, with 50, 55, 60 and 65 inch models offered alongside a substantial LED LCD range.

LCD Shift Changed The Game

The problem for Panasonic was that the global television market was rapidly shifting towards LCD.

Panasonic attempted to transfer its plasma reputation into LED LCD televisions, with models such as the 2014 AX800 4K range promoted around reproducing the colour, blacks and overall picture characteristics consumers associated with the company’s plasma displays.

But the competitive environment had changed dramatically.  

Samsung and LG possessed enormous panel, manufacturing, marketing and distribution scale, while Chinese manufacturers including Hisense and TCL were becoming increasingly aggressive on both technology and price.

Panasonic subsequently moved into OLED televisions, combining panels sourced from LG Display with its own picture processing and tuning.

Its premium OLED televisions attracted strong reviews, particularly for picture accuracy, but critical acclaim failed to generate sufficient Australian sales volume.

Panasonic ultimately announced in February 2020 that it would withdraw televisions from the Australian market.

Now, six years later, Skyworth could provide Panasonic with a route back in.

New Panasonic OLED And Mini LED TVs

The latest Panasonic branded products entering Canada demonstrate that the Japanese company’s TV name is far from dead.

The Canadian range includes the Z85C OLED and W90C QD Mini LED series, available in 55 and 65 inch sizes.

The Z85C uses an OLED panel delivering self illuminated pixels, deep blacks and high contrast, backed by Panasonic’s AI 4K Color Engine Ultra.

Panasonic claims the processor analyses content to optimise colour, motion and contrast.

Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, HDR10+ and HLG are supported, along with Panasonic’s Surround Sound Pro audio technology.

Gaming has also become a much bigger component of Panasonic’s television proposition.

The Z85C features Game Mode Extreme, refresh rates of up to 120Hz, HDMI 2.1, variable refresh rate technology, low latency operation and AMD FreeSync Premium support.

The W90C moves to Mini LED technology with local dimming designed to deliver deeper blacks while maintaining the higher brightness advantages of LCD technology.

Panasonic is also using Glare Free Max technology to reduce reflections in brightly lit rooms, an increasingly important battleground as TV manufacturers attempt to improve daytime viewing performance.

Skyworth Could Be Key To Australian Return

The bigger story is not simply the technology.

It is the business model sitting behind the Panasonic name.

Skyworth is one of China’s major television manufacturers and has the manufacturing scale Panasonic no longer maintains itself in the global TV market.

The Canadian arrangement effectively combines Panasonic’s brand, picture expertise and quality standards with Skyworth’s development and manufacturing capabilities.

That significantly reduces the infrastructure Panasonic would need if it decided to re-enter markets such as Australia.

It could also create an unusual competitive dynamic.

A Japanese television brand that once manufactured some of the world’s most highly regarded plasma televisions could return to Australia with products manufactured and developed in partnership with one of China’s largest TV groups.

There is currently no confirmation that Panasonic TVs will return to Australia, nor has an Australian distributor or retail partner been announced.

But Skyworth’s expansion of the Panasonic TV partnership into Canada demonstrates there is now a viable mechanism for Panasonic branded televisions to re-enter markets the Japanese company previously abandoned.

And with Skyworth understood to be examining opportunities in Australia, Panasonic could once again find itself competing for space on Australian television walls — this time with Chinese manufacturing muscle sitting behind one of Japan’s best known consumer electronics brands.