Whirlpool did make TVs in the late 60's early 70's. They bought out Warwick Electronics from Sears and tried to make a go of it for about 10 years, and finally sold out to Sanyo.

Also from what I've read, apparently Sears forced Whirlpool to buy Warwick. Sears was a major stock holder in Whirlpool and could easily have had someone else make Kenmore appliances. Sears was starting to buy TVs from Japan and wanted to offload Warwick. Whirlpool lost a bunch of money on the deal, but felt they had to keep Sears happy.