LG, Sharp Remain Among Names Missing From UHD Alliance Membership Roster

LG is and always has been a founding member of the UHD Alliance, LG spokesman John Taylor told us Wednesday. LG also holds a seat on the alliance's board, Taylor said. But Sharp was "incorrectly labeled a founding member" when the alliance was announced at CES, Jim Sanduski, president of Sharp Electronics Marketing Co. of America, emailed us Tuesday. "We are today, however, a member and a participant in the UHD Alliance," Sanduski said. Both companies were missing from a list of members in the alliance's call for contributors issued Tuesday (see 1504070054). There remained no mention of LG or Sharp at the alliance's website Wednesday afternoon. Victor Matsuda, vice president in Sony America’s Visual Entertainment Project Office and vice chairman of the alliance, declined comment on the membership status of individual companies. But the alliance has received queries and membership applications from “dozens” of companies since CES, and is processing those applications “as fast as we can,” Matsuda told us Wednesday. However, no companies other than the 10 listed in the alliance’s Tuesday announcement or posted at the group’s website are “official members,” he told us. Matsuda chairs the alliance's Promotions Working Group and in that role also serves as the group's official spokesman, he told us.