USC’s Entertainment Technology Center Announces LG Electronics as New Project Sponsor

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Entertainment Technology Center at USC (ETC) [www.etcenter.org], a non-profit consortium that brings together top entertainment and consumer electronics companies to listen to and evaluate consumer mindshare towards future technologies, announced today that LG Electronics, Inc. [http://us.lge.com], a global force in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances, has joined ETC’s already growing major technology companies as an Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab (AACL) sponsor.

The AACL will showcase a wide spectrum of leading edge products, services and technologies in action. The lab will use these tools to examine the technological and sociological implications of providing content to consumers who desire it at anytime, on any device, and anywhere they happen to be. LG Electronics’ long experience and deep expertise in this area will add significant value to the AACL’s activities. As a member of the Technical Advisory Board, LG Electronics will help ETC identify emerging trends and structure technology projects related to emerging paradigms in content production, distribution and consumption.

ETC’s Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab focuses on understanding what consumers want, and bringing companies together to develop solutions that ensure that consumers get what they want. LG Electronics, as a global leader in the development of innovative consumer electronics and digital lifestyle products, will help ETC in this process to the benefit of both the consumer and the other sponsors involved. Topics discussed in the lab include understanding leading-edge consumer behavior with entertainment content & services, and exploring how to: improve the quality of content, improve the ability to find and use content, improve the value of content, and increase the efficiency of production & distribution. This information is valuable to LG Electronics in the company’s effort to invent entirely new concepts that enhance tomorrow’s digital lifestyle.

“We are excited to be active participants in the Anytime Anywhere Content Lab which allows us to better understand and deliver more consumer-friendly and higher value products and services for our customers,” said Nandhu Nandhakumar, SVP Advanced Technology, for LG Electronics, Inc. The ETC has the advantage of being part of the University of Southern California, which allows it to generate information and feedback from next-generation consumers, students ages 18-24. The ETC also benefits from the high level of involvement of the major studios located in neighboring Hollywood. The ETC provides a forum for exchanging information and jointly developing interoperability solutions, allowing sponsors to join forces to reach consumers in new and improved ways. “Sharing information is invaluable,” explains ETC executive director, David Wertheimer. “LG brings with it great products and innovative experience. Together, we are helping build the anytime/anywhere technologies of the future.”

About LG Electronics North America

LG Electronics North America, based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the regional headquarters of LG Electronics, Inc., a global force in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances. In the United States, Canada and Mexico, LG Electronics sells a wide range of consumer electronics (digital display and digital media) products, mobile phones and digital appliances, under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit www.LGusa.com.

About the Entertainment Technology Center at USC

The Entertainment Technology Center @ USC, founded in 1993 with the help of George Lucas, is a non-profit organization within USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. The ETC brings together the top entertainment, technology and consumer electronic companies to evaluate what consumers really want, which is then translated to the companies that make technology products. The ETC strives to show how technology impacts the next generation consumer, which will improve the consumer experience and will uncover new revenue streams for entertainment-related products. Current ETC sponsor participants include; Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, NBC-Universal, Viacom/Paramount, Warner Bros., along with Cisco, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Inc., Lucasfilm Ltd, and Thomson. For more information, email: info@etcenter.org.