Hisense, Panasonic, Samsung and TCL with AU Optronics are founding members of the 8K Association (see 1812180053), unveiled at CES in Las Vegas Tuesday to “help develop the 8K ecosystem.” Another association goal is to help “secure 8K native content for members,” but there’s no stated intention to extend memberships to content companies, though there will be outreach to over-the-top services to “develop 8K offerings.” The association scheduled a CES news conference for Wednesday in Room S-228 of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall. LG and Sony, both of which announced new 8K products Monday at CES, didn't join. Those companies had no comment.
That LG is adding Apple AirPlay 2 support to its 2019 TV lineup was a surprise announcement at its CES preview Monday, as other manufacturers are doing the same. “We’re really excited to be one of Apple’s first TV partners for AirPlay Video,” said Tim Alessi, senior director-home entertainment product marketing. “This will help users easily share what they’re watching on their favorite streaming apps right on our beautiful TVs.” LG also is adopting AirPlay Audio and HomeKit support, he said. “This will simplify how Apple devices work with LG TVs.” AirPlay and LG TVs are “a great combination” because both support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, he said. Vizio announced support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit in its SmartCast 3.0 smart TV platform. And Samsung announced Sunday AirPlay 2 and iTunes movie and TV show store integration in its 2019 smart TVs.
Samsung applied Friday to register the trademark Samsung Crypto Wallet as a cryptocurrency wallet app for future Galaxy smartphones and tablets, Patent and Trademark Office records show. It filed a similar application a day earlier with U.K. trademark authorities. Samsung last week filed applications at PTO and in the U.K. to register the Samsung Blockchain Wallet trademark (see 1812260031). The company didn’t comment.
SiriusXM signed Scott Greenstein to a new employment agreement on Christmas Eve that extends his run as president-chief content officer through May 2022, said an 8-K Wednesday at the SEC. SiriusXM raised Greenstein’s annual base pay by 7 percent to $1.6 million and gave him the chance to earn yearly bonuses targeted at up to $2.4 million -- 150 percent of his annual base salary -- if he meets set “performance goals,” it said. It also granted Greenstein options to buy 3.2 million SiriusXM shares at $5.51 a share, plus roughly 2 million time-based and performance-based restricted stock units that vest on specified dates between December 2019 and May 2022, it said. Shares closed unchanged Thursday at $5.73.
China won’t “officially comment” on reports that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order in January barring U.S. companies from using Huawei and ZTE telecom equipment on national security grounds because the reports have “not been confirmed,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson Thursday. “Despite not having any evidence, certain countries have politicized the normal exchanges and cooperation in science and technology and even obstructed and restricted the normal operations of Chinese businesses on unwarranted charges and under the pretext of national security,” she said. “This actually amounts to shutting their own door to openness, progress and fairness.”
Pandora CEO Roger Lynch would qualify for $12.7 million in “golden parachute” payments if he’s terminated within 18 months after the SiriusXM/Pandora transaction is completed (see 1809240030), said a SiriusXM proxy statement and prospectus filed Dec. 20 at the SEC. A Pandora shareholder vote on the acquisition is set for Jan. 29 at Pandora’s Oakland headquarters. Shareholders would vote separately on the actual deal proposal and the executive compensation packages, said the proxy. The transaction is expected to close in 2019's first quarter, it said. The FTC cleared SiriusXM/Pandora Friday, ending the transaction’s Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period, said the companies Monday. The Pandora and SiriusXM boards ratified the deal unanimously, they said. SiriusXM shareholder approval was not required, they said. The Jan. 29 vote brings SiriusXM “one step closer to sealing the deal,” said Macquarie Research Monday. “Next up, a transformation of its digital/mobile presence.” As SiriusXM management “prepares to welcome Pandora, we expect a better articulation of strategy and top/bottom line synergies,” it said.
Samsung applied to register the trademark Samsung Blockchain Wallet as a cryptocurrency wallet app for future Galaxy smartphones and tablets, Dec. 20 at the Patent and Trademark Office, agency records show. A similar application was filed three days earlier with U.K. trademark authorities, the application shows. Samsung didn’t comment Wednesday.
The G7 ThinQ smartphone is among LG mobile devices, home electronics products and smart appliances infringing eight wireless and communications-technology patents, alleged a Bell Northern Research complaint (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Diego. BNR, formed in 2017, is “successor in interest” to a “key portfolio” of IP developed at Agere, Broadcom, LSI, Renesas and others, it said. Since the G7 is advertised as being compliant with the “beamforming portions” of the 802.11ac wireless standard, the phone “contains modules operable to compute one or more channel estimate matrices from signals received from a base station,” infringing U.S. patent 7,957,450, granted in June 2011 and assigned to Broadcom, it said. BNR executives met top LG officials in Seoul at least three times in the past year, including as recently as Nov. 30, to give a “detailed presentation” of the infringement, yet LG's bad practices continued, it said. LG didn’t comment.
As recently as three years ago, streaming was only 25 percent of Warner Music Group’s recorded music revenue, but grew to more than 50 percent of sales in the year ended Sept. 30, said CEO Steve Cooper on an earnings call Thursday. Warner’s streaming revenue is now nearly three times that of physical music, he said. “We remain very focused on ways to turbocharge the industry’s recent growth period,” said Cooper. “Subscription streaming now has a firm economic foundation,” with more than 200 million “paying customers” globally, he said. There’s still “plenty of room for long-term growth” in “established and emerging markets” because the 200 million is only 3 percent of the world’s population, he said. Cooper does think It’s conceivable that streaming will reach “something akin to saturation” in the next five to 10 years in developed countries, he said. Though subscription growth in less affluent emerging markets will be more open-ended, revenue growth in those regions will be slower due to lower average revenue among active users, he said.
China’s foreign ministry said the U.S. must withdraw allegations against two state-linked Chinese hackers charged Thursday with intellectual-property cybercrimes (see 1812200059) or risk endangering U.S.-China trade negotiations aimed at averting a March 2 increase in Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports (see 1812140045). China urges the U.S. “to immediately correct its wrongdoings, stop defaming and discrediting China on the cybersecurity issue, and withdraw its so-called charges against the Chinese nationals so as to avoid seriously damaging bilateral relations and bilateral cooperation in relevant fields,” said a spokesperson Friday. In charging the two Chinese nationals with cybertheft, the U.S. “fabricated stories out of nothing and made unwarranted accusations against China on the cybersecurity issue,” she said. China “has been firmly opposing and cracking down on all forms of cyber espionage. The Chinese government has never participated in or supported others in stealing commercial secrets in any form.”