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In the mid 1990s, Carmel's then-giant Thomson Consumer Electronics annually sold $300 million worth of high-end televisions under the name Proscan. But by the end of the decade, the company's French owners had abandoned Proscan in favor of a strategy emphasizing the better-known RCA brand.
Now a former Thomson executive based in Indianapolis is attempting to revive Proscan.
Last year, Pat Deighan sold nearly $50 million worth of Proscan high-definition flatscreen LCD televisions in the United States. This year, he said he's on track to double that total. Pretty good for a guy who runs a solo operation.
"It's a staggering amount of money, but it's all relative," said Deighan, 44, pointing out that the profit margins in the television industry are razor-thin.
Deighan joined Thomson in 1990 as a designer and moved on to project management and marketing and sales, posts that helped him develop contacts with major retailers. He left Thomson in 2005.
Before he departed, Deighan got to know Proscan well.
Thomson had introduced the brand in 1986 as a luxury alternative to the mass-market appeal of RCA. The company sunk big money into marketing Proscan as a high-end-but-easy-to-use boutique product, as its tag line indicated: "Proscan. So advanced. Yet so simple." And the investment paid off. In its peak year, Thomson sold $300 million...