Reports that Panasonic is getting out of the TV business, translated from Asian media, have been circulating for the last couple of weeks. Those reports are not true. Actually, the reports have come in two flavors. The other flavor is that it's not the TV business Panasonic is exiting, but the business of making LCD panels for TVs. That is also not true.

Both variations of the rumor have said that Panasonic was exiting the businesses it wasn't actually exiting in order to free up resources to build more small and medium-sized LCD panels for smart phones and tablets. That part is half true. Although Panasonic and Panasonic Display are not exiting either the TV or the LCD-TV display businesses, they will be increasing development and manufacturing of small and medium-sized displays.

The corrections came from Jim Reilly, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Panasonic Corp. of North America in Secaucus, New Jersey. Said Reilly, “To answer your question directly, Panasonic is not exiting the TV Business. The recent media reports about this subject are speculative and contain a number of errors of fact or misinterpretation. Also, Panasonic is not getting out of the business of making LCD panels for TV, but it is true that the company is increasing production of LCD panels for non-TV applications.

Many manufacturers of TV sets and LCD panels for TV sets are under serious financial pressure and have been for some time. As a result, there have been and will be many stories about mergers, consolidation, and companies divesting themselves of certain business, and some of those stories are and will be true. But it's clearly a mistake to assume that all such stories are true. This one wasn't.

Ken Werner is Principal of Nutmeg Consultants, specializing in the display industry, display manufacturing, and display technology. You can reach him at [email protected].