RCA (trademark)
RCA is an American multinational trademark brand owned by Talisman Brands, Inc.[1] which is used on products made by that company as well as Sony Music Entertainment, Voxx International and ON Corporation. RCA is an abbreviation for the Radio Corporation of America, founded in 1919. The company became known as the RCA Corporation in 1969. RCA was purchased by General Electric in 1986 and its various divisions and assets were then liquidated.
Product type
Trademark
Talisman Brands
Sony Music Entertainment
1919
RCA Records
RCA Lyra
RCA Telephones
RCA Audio/Video
RCA Accessories
RCA Televisions
RCA Car Stereo
RCA Appliances
RCA Computers
RCA Computer Tablets
RCA Projectors
RCA Digital TV Box
Worldwide
At present, the RCA trademark is owned by Talisman Brand, Inc. (d/b/a Established.) since 2022,[2] Though it generally no longer uses the brand directly, Talisman Brand licenses the RCA trademark to other companies for use on various products along 10 different product lines:
BMG (for the record labels) and Thomson (for the remaining businesses) bought those assets from General Electric, which took over the RCA Corporation in 1986 and kept RCA's NBC broadcast television interests (GE sold off the NBC Radio Network and the NBC-owned radio stations). Initially, GE continued to own the RCA trademarks (including the His Master's Voice/Nipper and Victor/Victrola trademarks which were then licensed to Thomson and Bertelsmann Music Group. Thomson eventually purchased the rights to the RCA trademarks from GE in 2003[14] subject to the perpetual license GE had issued to BMG.
In December 2006, Thomson SA agreed to sell its consumer electronics accessory business, including rights to use the RCA name for consumer electronic accessories, to Audiovox[15]
On October 16, 2007, Thomson SA agreed to sell its consumer electronics audio video business outside Europe including the worldwide rights to the RCA Brand for consumer electronics audio video products[16]
In April 2010, ON Corporation took over distribution of RCA branded TVs.[17]
Bertelsmann AG was new to the RCA family (though the creation of Sony BMG is similar to that of EMI more than 70 years earlier). Sony took full ownership of Sony BMG in 2008 and the record company was renamed Sony Music. Thomson started as the French subsidiary of Thomson-Houston Electric, a company which later evolved into General Electric.
In 2022, Technicolor sold the trademark and licensing rights to the RCA brand and logos to Talisman Brands, Inc.[18]
Sponsorship[edit]
RCA sponsored the Argentinian football club San Lorenzo de Almagro from 2005 until 2007, and the Argentinian football club Estudiantes de La Plata from 2008 to mid-2011. It currently sponsors Racing, another first division Argentinean football club.
In the mid-1990s, RCA bought the naming rights to the Hoosier Dome (the original home of the Indianapolis Colts). The stadium became the RCA Dome and was known as such until it was demolished in December 2008 when the Colts departed for the new Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center was expanded onto the RCA Dome footprint.
RCA was the main sponsor for the No. 98 Cale Yarborough Motorsports team in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series with drivers Jeremy Mayfield from 1995-1996 and with John Andretti in 1997. They appeared on the No. 00 Quin Houff in 2021 as a throwback to the above mentioned No. 98 car.