LCD TV Association Adds Eight New Sustaining Members

[The following is a release from the LCD TV Association]

January 9, 2008

The LCD TV Association, a global, not-for-profit marketing trade association chartered to inform, promote, improve and connect the entire LCD TV supply chain, today announced the addition of eight new sustaining members: HP, Dolby Laboratories, Westinghouse Digital Electronics, Fusion Optix, NOVA Chemicals, TVIA, UniPixel and Veritas et Visus. This signals the growing popularity and support for LCD TVs, and their related supply chain and channels through to the end consumer, joining together to educate and promote the benefits and advantages of LCD TVs. According to DisplaySearch, worldwide LCD TV shipments accelerated in Q3'07, rising 26% Q/Q and 86% Y/Y in Q3'07 to a record 20.3M units and a 40% unit share of the TV market. LCD TVs remained the only technology to enjoy Y/Y revenue growth, up 48% Y/Y to $17.5B, for a 66% revenue share of the TV market. "Our industry is at an inflection point for all HDTVs and LCD TVs in particular, in terms of growth, quality, new technology and market penetration. The growth has been amazing, with more than 40 million LCD TV sets sold worldwide in 2006, an estimated 70 million or so for 2007 and a market which should easily exceed 100 million units globally this year," noted Bruce Berkoff, Chairman of the LCD TV Association. "We are excited by the growing support for our organization and educational programs, as well as the breadth, experience and quality of the new sustaining members we are now announcing, which in addition to our original seven sustaining members Corning, LG.Philips LCD, Merck KGaA Darmstadt Germany, Micronas, Olevia, USDC and DisplaySearch, reflect the growth and penetration in the TV market of ever-better LCD TV technology. We are happy to continue to play a role supporting this growth and improving the products and market for everyone," Berkoff added. According to Jim Sanduski, Vice President of Marketing for the Managed Home Americas unit at HP, "HP is happy to join this consumer-focused organization to help educate end-users about the benefits of our LCD TVs and connected home products. HP is focused on bridging the digital silos that exist in the home today between PC and A/V systems by delivering products and service solutions that help people enjoy their digital media on their display device of choice: their LCD HDTV." Since its recent formation in 2007, the LCD TV Association has so far participated in over ten global industry conferences, shows and exhibitions, in addition to supporting other worthwhile industry initiatives and events like the 'Energy Star' program, which is also supported by the CEA and run by the EPA (Environment Protection Agency). The LCD TV Association helps bring the consumer viewpoint to this government program and, often related to 'green' technology. In fact, the LCD TV Association has recently launched its new 'GreenTV™' logo program to help focus LCD TV manufacturers and brands on reducing the power consumption requirements of LCD TVs, while making them more ergonomic and user friendly. The first step in the LCD TV Association's program is to implement ambient light sensors, which may reduce power consumption by up to 30%, while reducing user eyestrain. Participants in the program will be awarded with the right to use a unique 'GreenTV' logo to help promote the uniform benefits and understanding of this technology. As homes add TVs and as average diagonal sizes increase, CE power usage becomes a bigger concern for our country and our global environment. "Dolby is pleased to join the LCD TV Association and we are honored to be aligned with an organization dedicated to furthering the interests of the LCD TV industry," said Bharath Rajagopalan, Business Line Director, Dolby Laboratories. "At Dolby we are equally committed to the LCD display industry through providing Dolby High Dynamic Range Technologies to improve the performance of LCD displays with LED backlighting technology." The LCDTV Association is committed to working with major manufacturers and the entire supply chain to help reduce the carbon footprint of LCD TVs today and in the future. "From the greeting of the basic glass and liquid crystal materials from Corning and Merck KGaA, to the world's first EPD (Environment Product Declaration) panels and RoHs approvals by vendors like LG.Philips LCD, to potential breakthrough enabling technologies like Time Multiplexed Optical Shutter (TMOS) from UniPixel, we are excited about the role we can play to continuously promote and inform the public about past, present and future advances in LCD TV technology," concluded Bruce Berkoff, Chairman of the LCD TV Association.

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