AmTran and JVC Pair Up in TV Deal
AmTran Technology, a contract manufacturer of monitors and televisions, is making a bold bet. It licensed the rights to make, distribute and market TVs in North America under the brand of JVC, the long-troubled Japanese consumer-electronics maker, and it promises to offer affordable but high-end TVs by the end of the third quarter.
The two partners are an unlikely pair. Taipei-based AmTran is best known for the TVs it makes for Vizio, the largest LCD TV maker in the U.S. based on shipments. Its new JVC lineup is sure to compete with Vizio, in which AmTran holds a roughly 20 percent stake.
JVC is a traditional Japanese company that made newspaper headlines when it balked at its parent company Panasonic selling its stake to a foreign investor a few years ago.