Sharp to Return to US Market With Roku TVs in 2022
The Sharp TV brand will return to the U.S. with HD and 4K TVs integrating the Roku TV platform, said Roku Monday. Sharp Home Electronics President Jim Sanduski, in a statement, called the collaboration with Roku a “winning combination for…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
our consumers.” Sanduski declined Monday to comment on additional plans for premium Sharp TVs in the U.S., saying he would respond to questions after the company’s announcement Tuesday. Sharp told us in May 2019 it hoped to return to the U.S. market with branded 8K and Aquos-branded 4K TVs, but it scrapped plans when it was unable to make deadlines for the holiday season, Sanduski told us before CES 2020 (see 2001030029). At the time, the Foxconn subsidiary studied the market and had talks with retailers, but cutthroat pricing in 4K TV scared the company off, said Sanduski. He cited “aggressive price drops” that began in spring and continued through fall. “At the end of the day, looking at the market, we couldn’t find a path of profitability,” he said then. Sharp-branded TVs were last in the U.S. market under a five-year 2016 trademark and licensing agreement with Hisense in which the Chinese TV maker produced and sold Sharp- and Aquos-branded TVs. That agreement was terminated two years early in 2019 (see 1905100067). Details and pricing of Sharp Roku TVs will be released later, the companies said.