Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings denied the decision to share the CEO role with Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos (see 2007160073 and personals section, July 17) foretells his exit from the company or a reduction in his day-to-day duties. “I'm in for a decade,” said Hastings in a Q2 call Thursday (see materials here). “As co-CEOs, it's two of us full time.” Forecasting a 63% year-over-year decline in Q3 net subscriber additions to 2.5 million is based on "the context of what just happened in Q2,” said Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann. “We just added 10 million members, which is the largest growth we've ever had in a second quarter.” Lockdowns sent Q1 sub growth soaring. Newer members are “highly engaged,” said Neumann. “They're sticking around with us actually as well or better than pre-COVID.” When a Netflix user churns, “it's always temporary,” said Hastings. “It's just a matter of timing as our service gets better, as maybe their income increases, as the internet gets faster.” The streaming-device maker disputes of the sort that have kept Peacock off the Roku platform are “really unfortunate,” said Chief Product Officer Greg Peters, newly named to the dual role of chief operating officer. “It really impacts consumers when they can't watch the shows that they're thrilled to watch on the device that they have.” COVID-19 on-set “safety protocols” Netflix is installing globally “will become a permanent part of production,” said Sarandos. The time between the shutdown and ramping back up “was spent on scripts and development and preparedness,” he said: That will make the shoots “more efficient." The stock closed 6.5% lower Friday at $492.99.

Belkin’s connected things division is selling face masks to address personal protective equipment shortages during the pandemic, said the company Thursday.

June U.S. retail sales through online and other non-store channels fell 2.4% sequentially but rose 30% year over year amid COVID-19, reported the National Retail Federation Thursday: Retail sales “have been climbing back upward” after a record 15% decline in April, “the first full month that most stores were closed.”

Target will require customers to wear masks or face coverings beginning Aug. 1, it said Thursday. The new policy is in keeping with "guidance" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "on the role masks play in preventing the spread of the coronavirus," emailed a spokesperson. Target will exempt young children and customers with underlying medical conditions. This "builds on the more than 80% of our stores that already require guests to wear face coverings due to local and state regulations," said the spokesperson. Store employees already wear store-provided masks. Target will provide disposable masks at store entrances. It will add signage and overhead audio messages and station team members at entrances to remind customers to wear masks. The retailer will steer shoppers to its "no-contact fulfillment options, including Drive Up, Target.com and Shipt, if they’d prefer," she said. Walmart and Best Buy announced customer such requirements this week (see report, July 16).

Effective intellectual property protections “enabled the rapid private sector response to the pandemic,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and sister business groups in Canada, France, Germany, South Korea and the U.K. wrote “world leaders” Thursday. “These protections will be essential to support the rapid manufacturing and distribution of safe and effective treatments and vaccines when they are approved,” said the groups. “Our associations urge you to recognize the critical role effective intellectual property protections have played and will play in defeating the virus, in helping to drive economic recovery, and in enabling the private sector to make sustainable contributions to solving this crisis.” They also urged leaders to “rally the world” to urgently remove “unnecessary supply chain barriers that are hindering the efficient distribution of COVID-19 technologies.”

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. business increased slightly in Q2 as 5G deployments offset other weakness, said CEO C.C. Wei on a Thursday investor call. COVID-19 “continues to bring some level of disruption to the global economies,” he said: TSMC is observing “weak consumer demand.” It expects 2020 global smartphone unit shipments to decline by a “low teen” percentage year-over-year, he said. But supply chains are making efforts to build back stability in “actively preparing for new 5G smartphone launches,” he said. The chipmaker is upgrading its 2020 forecast for 5G smartphone penetration to the “high teens” of the total smartphone market in 2020 from 5%-10% penetration in its April forecast, said Wei. TSMC thinks the long-term “underlying megatrend” of 5G remains “intact,” he said: Supply chains will “adjust and rebalance.” There "may be some impact” from the Commerce Department’s May 15 increased export control restrictions on Huawei (see 2005150027), he said. TSMC doesn’t plan to ship Huawei wafers after Sept. 14, said Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang. TSMC remains on track to build an “advanced semiconductor fab” in Arizona, said Wei: Production is “targeted” to begin in 2024 with monthly capacity of 20,000 wafers.

Broadcast associations for all states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are urging Capitol Hill leaders to make broadcasters and other local outlets eligible for the Small Business Administration-administered Paycheck Protection Program as part of the next COVID-19 aid bill. The House passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-6800) in May with such a provision (see 2005180056). PPP has already “saved many local news outlets from closing their doors,” but other outlets “have been unable to benefit from the program at all, simply because they exist within larger business or ownership groups,” the broadcasters said Wednesday in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. NAB, which also backed expanding broadcasters’ PPP eligibility (see 2004090066), published the letter Thursday.

Congressional Telehealth Caucus Co-chair Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and four other caucus members jointly filed the Protecting Access to Post-Covid-19 Telehealth Act Thursday to make permanent Congress’ temporary lifting of some telehealth restrictions during the pandemic. Lawmakers lifted some limits on telehealth eligibility for Medicare, among other rules, in March via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and other laws (see 2003250046). Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is among the lawmakers who backed making those rule changes permanent rather than letting them expire at the end of the pandemic (see 2006170065). “Telehealth is a proven and cost-effective way to get care out to patients, particularly during a crisis,” Thompson said. “Many patients who need routine care have been using telehealth to see their doctors without increasing the risk of spreading Coronavirus and many face an abrupt end to this practice after the crisis is over.” Co-sponsors include CTC co-Chairs Reps. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio; David Schweikert, R-Ariz.; and Peter Welch, D-Vt. Caucus member House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., is also a co-sponsor. American Telemedicine Association CEO Ann Mond Johnson said the bill would “keep patients and healthcare providers from falling off the telehealth ‘cliff.’”

Though pandemic “consequences” remain a challenge for the global economy, TomTom revenue is “on the road to recovery from the lows that we experienced in April,” said CEO Harold Goddijn on a Q2 investor call Wednesday. The GPS and mapping device supplier had “a very good upward trend in the second half of the quarter, both for automotive and for retail products,” he said. The June 30 quarter started with “factory and retail closures impacting trading conditions for automotive and consumer,” said Chief Financial Officer Taco Titulaer. The quarter got progressively better with the reopening of automotive factories and “the return to retail activity,” he said. “June was by far the strongest month and contributed about half of the quarter's operational revenue,” though it was down 47% from a year earlier, he said.

Back-to-school spending may exceed records, reported the National Retail Federation Wednesday. Students and their families anticipate buying more laptops and computer accessories “in anticipation that at least some classes will take place online” due to COVID-19, it said. NRF canvassed 7,500 consumers in early July, finding parents with kids in elementary through high school plan to spend $789.49 on average, topping the previous record of $696.70 last year. College students and their families expect to spend $1,059.20 on average, which would top last year’s record of $976.78. NRF projects total back-to-school spending to reach $101.6 billion, topping the $100 billion mark for the first time. Slightly more than half of respondents said they expect their kids will take at least some of their classes at home this fall. Of those, 36% expect to buy laptops, 22% computer speakers or headphones, 21% other accessories and 17% printers.