Pioneer Exiting TV Business: Bye Bye Kuros

Home theater aficionados have a reason to be sad today, as Pioneer is reportedly exiting the television business.

While not as common as the likes of Sony, Samsung or Panasonic, anyone familiar with home theaters will tell you that Pioneer made some of the best gear money could buy. The Pioneer Elite series was always revered, and its Kuro line of plasma televisions always finished at the top of the class.

Sadly, stunning picture quality wasn’t enough to keep Pioneer’s TV division afloat, as according to the Nikkei publication, the Japanese company is ditching the flat panel business altogether.

Pioneer had already planned changes to its TV business by outsourcing panel production to Panasonic -- another maker of high quality plasmas televisions. Panasonic, however, just announced a delay in the opening of its new plasma production plant, according to HDGuru. The delay in facilities coming online combined with the less than favorable economic conditions are likely to have forced Pioneer to abandon the TV market.

It appears the days of straight-Pioneer DVD players are numbered too, as the company plans to spin off its disc playing machines as part of a joint venture with Sharp.

The Nikkei also reported that Pioneer will be shedding thousands of jobs over the next year amidst losses of more than 100 billion yen (over $1 billion).

Pioneer Kuro, you will be missed.