LAS VEGAS — On the first day of the 2018 NAB Show, which officially began April 9, LG Electronics was in a festive mood. The South Korean company’s R&D leader was on hand at the Las Vegas Convention Center and joined the AWARN Alliance, NAB and RAPA, South Korea’s broadcast promotion association, to celebrate the signing of a landmark memorandum of understanding regarding international cooperation on advanced emergency alerting powered by the new ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV standard and the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN).
On hand in Las Vegas to commemorate the occasion was LG SVP Dr. Jong G. Kim, who also serves as president of LG’s Zenith R&D Lab. He said, “From the beginning, U.S. and South Korean companies have worked hand-in-hand to develop the ATSC 3.0 standard and the core technologies behind advanced emergency alerting. This agreement pledges expanded collaborations supporting broad deployment of Next Gen TV with AWARN alerts.”
As an early technology contributor to AWARN and a co-founder of the Alliance, “LG has long believed that advanced alerting is one of the most compelling use cases for ATSC 3.0,” he continued. “Now, with agreement to share service and technology developments, to conduct joint testing in the U.S. and Korea, and to develop best practices based on field experience and social science, the AWARN-RAPA collaboration will hasten the day when this new public service becomes a life-saving reality.”
The AWARN Alliance devoted its time in Las Vegas to showcasing the power of ATSC 3.0 over-the-air broadcasting, integrated with optional broadband connectivity, to provide the world’s most advanced emergency alerting capabilities.
“After a year of catastrophic natural and manmade disasters, the need to upgrade America’s fragmented alerting system has become more urgent than ever,” it said. “Marking its second anniversary, the AWARN Alliance continues to build support and engage internationally.”
The newest member of the Alliance, contributing as a technology partner, is The Weather Company, an IBM Business.
