ATSC will return its Next Gen Broadcast Conference and annual member meeting to an in-person event Aug. 25-26 at the Reagan Building in Washington, blogged President Madeleine Noland Tuesday. “We’ll be moving to a different room in the vast complex and will also plan to livestream the event.” Doing the conference as a physical event with a virtual component cleared a big hurdle when Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser's (D) May 17 order lifted COVID-19 capacity restrictions on large business gatherings (see 2105240054).
Paul Gluckman
Paul Gluckman, Executive Senior Editor, is a 30-year Warren Communications News veteran having joined the company in May 1989 to launch its Audio Week publication. In his long career, Paul has chronicled the rise and fall of physical entertainment media like the CD, DVD and Blu-ray and the advent of ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology from its rudimentary standardization roots to its anticipated 2020 commercial launch.
Apple intentionally inflicted damage on consumers' iPhones through frequent iOS software updates, alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose that seeks class-action status. Three iOS updates released since April rendered iPhones “significantly damaged” by causing processing speeds to “decrease dramatically” and batteries to drain faster, it said. “After hundreds of online complaints on forums, articles on technology blogs and on traditional media websites, and hundreds of complaints on social media, Apple has failed to acknowledge improperly damaging user’s iPhones without disclosure.” The potential class is iPhone owners dating to the iPhone 8 who experienced “reduced functionality” after iOS updates 14.5, 14.5.1 or iOS 14.6. The lawsuit alleged violation of the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act and similar California statutes and seeks statutory and punitive damages. Apple didn’t comment Tuesday.
The global semiconductor shortage “continues to negatively impact U.S. workers and consumers and is a persistent headwind to the U.S. economic outlook,” said the 100-day supply chain review published Tuesday by the White House in answer to President Joe Biden’s call for the report in his Feb. 24 executive order. The Commerce Department’s assessment took center stage in the 250-page report. The Energy, Defense and Health and Human Services departments also weighed in.
China is “firmly opposed” to the executive order President Joe Biden signed Thursday, bolstering prohibitions on U.S. investments in China’s military-industrial complex, said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday. “The U.S. government uses the catch-all concept of national security and abuses state power to suppress and restrict Chinese enterprises in all possible means,” he said. Presidential EOs have “harmed not only the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, but also the interests of global investors, including U.S. investors,” said the spokesperson. The White House didn’t comment. Biden’s EO prohibits U.S. “persons” from trading in the securities of 59 Chinese entities, effective Aug. 2 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.
Thirty-nine percent of U.S. homes said they were likely to buy consumer tech gear within 12 months, when surveyed early in Q2, reported CTA Thursday. That's an 11-point increase from the same 2020 survey. The association canvassed 2,400 adults online April 9-18, finding 37% plan to buy new smartphones in the next year, compared with 29% who plan to buy new TVs. Ownership of 4K Ultra HD TVs surpassed a majority of U.S. homes for the first time, said CTA. The sets are installed in 52% of TV households, a 16-point increase from a year earlier and the largest growth for any product category surveyed. CTA estimates overall TV ownership at 91% of U.S. homes, edging out smartphones (90%) as the most commonly owned tech device. TV ownership was 98% in 2013 and 97% in 2014, but has been "steadily decreasing over the years as consumers transition to watching content" on their mobile devices, said a spokesperson. The year-over-year decline to 91% in 2021 from 93% in 2020 was within the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 2%, she said. Nielsen had a different take when it pegged TV penetration last summer at 96.2% of U.S. homes, trending 0.1% higher from a year earlier. Nielsen's estimate, its most recent available, was the percentage of total U.S. homes with TVs receiving traditional signals via over-the-air antenna, cable, satellite or broadband.
Chip demand is “much more pervasive than we've ever seen” and “we're really in the early innings of this huge demand acceleration,” Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson told a Bernstein virtual conference Wednesday. The company supplies semiconductor production equipment to chipmakers and OLED vapor-deposition products and services to Chinese panel makers, Customers are talking about “big multiyear investments” in “longer-term supply assurance” contracts, more “than I've ever heard before,” he said. “I really see a rethinking of the whole supply chain, and people are understanding that you can't respond in a matter of weeks or months relative to building capacity.” People in the supply chain “are understanding this just-in-time type of a mindset is not going to work,” he said.
The “big deals” with Amazon buying MGM and with WarnerMedia/Discovery are a “resounding affirmation” of streaming and “about the value of content” and of brands, said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer on a quarterly call Thursday. Lionsgate/Starz won’t play in streaming mergers and acquisitions because “we've got a benefit in terms of lack of disruption here at the company,” he said: “The key thing that we're going to do is keep our head down, and just keep executing on our plan.” Starz grew subscribers by 23% year over year, finishing fiscal Q4 ended March 31 with 29.5 million global accounts, said Feltheimer. Starz growth for the year took Lionsgate “past the digital inflection point of more over-the-top than linear subscribers,” he said. Lionsgate surpassed the “milestone” of 10 million U.S. streaming subs, he said. Lionsgate sees the streaming industry as “unfolding” into separate “broad-based” advertising-supported VOD and premium VOD tiers of services, said Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch. “The second tier is where we sit, which is in that premium service as a very edgy, non-ad-supported, really tailored service.”
Computer makers “have a long way to go to close this digital divide,” HP CEO Enrique Lores told investors. “We have a big opportunity to be part of the solution.” Though education market sales doubled in the past year due to remote learning, PCs per 100 students are “in the single digits,” he said about quarterly results. Executives at Dell and HP indicated Thursday that year-on-year growth likely would have been higher if not for the global chips shortage and other supply-chain disruptions that impeded order fulfillment. Lores expects “supply constraints to continue at least through the end of 2021.” Dell expects more PCs per household, shorter replacement cycles and a “higher notebook mix,” said Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke after results. Supply “has not kept up with the demand environment as we think about the need for semiconductors,” said Chief Financial Officer Tom Sweet. That’s “clearly an issue that the technology industry is dealing with,” he said: Component costs likely will be “inflationary in the second half” as shortages persist, especially in laptop displays and memory chips. HP closed 8.9% lower Friday at $29.23.
Incoming CEO Cristiano Amon rejects the notion Qualcomm is “more acutely impacted” by the chip shortage than others in the space, he told JPMorgan’s virtual conference Wednesday. Spiking demand from many end-market sectors is so pervasive that few, if any, chipmakers are able to keep up, he said: “In the current environment, if you're a semiconductor company and you don't have more demand than supply, you should be worried.” Qualcomm is navigating the crisis through “capacity-planning actions with our foundries, and we expect to see material improvements towards the end of the year,” he said. The company is a firm believer that 5G will require millimeter wave to reach its “full potential,” said Amon. Every global 5G market “eventually” will have mmWave, he said. “It's just a question of time.”
ATSC paused its initiative with Indian authorities to help boost deployment there of ATSC 3.0 broadcast services to mobile devices (see 2103290016) at the outbreak of that country’s COVID-19 crisis, President Madeleine Noland told us. “When it’s safe to do so, we’ll pick up where we left off,” she said. The situation on the ground in India is “heartbreaking,” said Noland Monday. “All we can do is patiently stand aside, recognizing that other things are much, much, much more important in that country right now than this project. We’re looking forward to the day when things are better and different.” The project’s “apparatus” is firmly “in place, ready to be fired up again when it becomes feasible and appropriate” to do so, she said. ATSC’s NAB Show 2021 “main” messaging in October (see report, May 25 issue) will be that NextGenTV “has reached critical mass in terms of commercial deployment,” said Noland. “This thing is for real.” She sees 3.0 “as a platform,” and “it’s going to evolve as the marketplace evolves.” Standards organizations like ATSC need to “stay ahead of the curve, and that’s what we’re doing,” she said.