Panasonic announced it is set to roll out its 300 millionth TV set on October 7, 2008, which marks the 56th year since the company began producing them in 1952. This makes Panasonic the world’s first TV manufacturer to reach this level of production.

After recording a cumulative production of 100 million sets in 1985, the company began applying in 1988 the Panasonic brand name to all the TVs that it sold in Japan. In 1998, cumulative production of television sets reached the 200-million mark.

On October 1, 2008, the corporate name was changed to Panasonic Corporation, and brand names were unified to Panasonic. The company has reached a milestone in its corporate history by achieving production of the 300 million sets. In fact, the company produced 105 million National brand TVs and 195 million Panasonic brand TVs, bringing visual entertainment to people all over the world.

Panasonic began producing black-and-white TVs in November 1952, one year before full-scale TV broadcasting began in Japan. In 1960, the company became the first manufacturer of color TVs in Japan.

A stream of popular TV units have been produced since then. They include the “Saga Series” of black-and-white TVs (1965), based on the design concept of “TV as furniture”; the “Quintrix” color TVs (1974), which gained popularity with a number of eye-catching TV commercials on air; the “α2000X Series” (1985), introduced to commemorate the company’s cumulative production of the 100 millionth TV set; the “Gaoo Series” (1990) achieved unprecedented sales of 4 million units; and the T (tau) flat-screen digital CRT TVs (1998) came out.

In 2003, VIERA flat-panel digital TVs were released to coincide with the launching of terrestrial digital broadcasting in Japan, and raised the curtain on a whole new era for TVs. Since then, VIERA TVs have been leading Panasonic’s TV production and sales in line with the global progress of digital broadcasting. On October 7, 2008, the newest VIERA model, the TH-50PZR900, marks the cumulative production of the 300 millionth TV.

TVs used to be the leading source of entertainment for every family member. In order to realize the new “digital hearth,” serving as the center of the home where the family and friends gather, Panasonic is maximizing its leading-edge technologies to develop ultra-large screens and super-thin display panels. It will also improve its wireless technologies to make the best of the new flat-panel TVs. Above all, the company is committed to creating high-efficiency technologies that can attain not only high-quality images and high technical performance but also contribute significantly to environmental protection.