Japan's Nikkei paper today warned (subscription required) that Pioneer is likely to exit the TV business. While the company has already said it would end plasma production and enter into LCDs, the new report has the electronics giant ending its TV efforts entirely and entering into a joint venture with Sharp for its DVD movie player business. Pioneer has been suffering losses despite the critical success of its Kuro plasma TVs and is also at least indirectly threatened by the current world economic crisis.

A spokeswoman for Pioneer's American division tells Gearlog that the company declines comment on the accuracy of the story but does acknowledge that her firm has been "actively evaluating" its businesses since March of last year to save money. Significantly, Pioneer's CES presence saw it launching mostly home theater equipment like Blu-ray players while its familiar TVs were absent.