The National Cable Television Cooperative and ACA Connects will put on a virtual Independent Show Sept. 29-Oct. 1 for discussion of policy and technical issues for broadband and video service for independent providers, they said Wednesday. CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein will keynote, they said. The event is invite-only.

The content industry even before the COVID-19 pandemic was “moving towards software-based systems, virtualization, cloud” and IP, Michael Koetter, WarnerMedia senior vice president-technology strategy, told an SMPTE webinar on media production in the coronavirus era. With stay-at-home mandates in place since March, “it’s been difficult to sustain normal workflow,” he said. “I think we’ve all jumped into the deep end of the pool with these technologies. We’ve pushed this technology adoption curve forward probably by two years.” And “we have not just remote contributors, but remote production operators, remote engineers -- everyone’s remote.” The “crazy thing” about that environment is “we’re not just surviving, we’re thriving,” he said. “The technology is incredibly empowering. Not only have we managed to keep our production going, but we have done everything from taking hours of commute off people’s days to reducing pollution.” The new normal doesn’t just apply to news or sports, “but also to traditional film and TV production,” he said.

Retailers are cracking down on the maskless. Walmart shoppers will be required to wear masks beginning Monday, it said Wednesday, citing the spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases. About 65% of Walmart’s 5,000-plus stores and clubs are in areas that have such government mandates, blogged Dacona Smith, chief operating officer-Walmart U.S., and Lance de la Rosa, COO-Sam’s Club. Citing states and municipalities with mask mandates that “virtually everyone” complies with, they anticipate the same to happen in other parts of the country. The company didn’t respond to questions. The National Retail Federation hopes it's a “tipping point” in the debate over masks. NRF encouraged all retailers to adopt such a nationwide policy. It highlighted Starbucks, Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Apple, Qurate and Costco requirements. The association co-signed a July 2 letter with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and other industry groups to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and governors, advocating that a national mask standard be implemented locally. As Best Buy was gearing up for a reopening after shelter-in-place last month, it said staffers would be required to wear face masks and it was asking customers to wear them, too. It upgraded that position Wednesday, joining other retailers requiring customers to wear face coverings in its stores.

COVID-19 focused worldwide attention on drones, speakers said during an Akin Gump webinar Wednesday. The pandemic “created an environment … we have not seen before,” said Ruby Sayyed, International Air Transport Association acting director air-transport movement infrastructure. The need for remote access to facilities for security, inspection or disinfection “increased because of the pandemic,” but safety is critical for the public to accept more use of drones, she said. “When we look at integrating drones into the supply chain, it’s going to take more than just technologies to enable that and to make that scalable to different locations and regions,” Sayyed said. Mark Wuennenberg, Drone Delivery Canada vice president-regulatory affairs, said his company trialed delivery of supplies to a remote first-nation community on an island. The normal mode of delivery is by helicopter with a cost of $1,300 hourly, he said. Drones can reduce that 80-90%, he said. The island community’s goal is to have zero COVID-19 cases because of limited healthcare services, Wuennenberg said. “They can very quickly become overwhelmed and the best method to address the threat is simply not have contact” with outsiders, he said. The company wants to enter the U.S. market and is seeking more harmonization with rules here, he said. “That will do wonders for the U.S. industry.” Building trust with government is important to getting regulations right, Wuennenberg said, noting Canada has been looking at drone rules for six years. “It was important to start early so we understood the box in which we were operating,” he said. Since March, Kenya-based Astral Aviation has been delivering COVID supplies to 26 countries in Africa using manned flights, said CEO Sanjeev Gadhia. Africa is made up of 54 countries, which is a challenge, he said. The “good news” is that after a three-year process, Kenya has rules, which are being harmonized with other nations in East Africa, he said. Drones are being used in Africa for broadcasting the importance of social distancing and spraying hot spots, he said. Once vaccines are developed, a challenge will be getting them everywhere, especially since they have limited shelf life, Gadhia said. Drones can help with last-mile delivery, he said: “We believe Africa is the perfect testing ground. This is the place where we have the worst infrastructure and a lot of challenges with accessibility and connectivity.”

The National Retail Federation scheduled a free, three-day online event to help retail e-commerce and digital marketing professionals navigate COVID-19. The July 20-22 event will include marketing strategies for reaching Generation Zers, said the association Tuesday. “Consumer expectations have never been higher,” said NRF. “It’s about building personalized omnichannel experiences, cultivating brand loyalty and much more.”

With coronavirus cases in Florida spiking, ITEXPO tech trade show organizers are still pressing ahead with the Feb. 9-12 physical event at the Miami Beach Convention Center. “It’s not a normal year,” organizers emailed prospective exhibitors Tuesday. “But by not taking action now, you may miss opportunities for sales and growth later. Plan now for a huge bounceback in 2021.” The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center reported Tuesday that Miami-Dade, Florida, surpassed Queens, New York, in fourth place among U.S. counties with the highest volume of confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The vast majority of “company leaders” surveyed plan to let employees work remotely at least “some of the time” after the pandemic, reported Gartner Tuesday. It canvassed 127 human resources executives June 5, finding 82% intend to continue with telework policies at least part time. Forty-seven percent said they plan to let employees work remotely “full time,” it said. “Flex time” will be the new normal for many organizations, it said. Forty-three percent versus 42% plan to grant employees flex days or flex hours. “The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a huge experiment in widespread remote working,” said Gartner. “As business leaders plan and execute reopening of their workplaces, they are evaluating more permanent remote working arrangements.”

New video delivery technologies and smart content management solutions are bolstering enterprise video, said ABI Research Tuesday. It forecasts the market will reach $18.7 billion this year due to work-at-home mandates. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are enabling enterprise video applications to be more efficient, while facial and object recognition, scene detection and speech-to-text capabilities are making video indexing and search functions easier, faster and more accurate, said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn. Low latency video allows livestreaming of corporate events to internal and external viewers. Enterprise video deployments are increasingly cloud based, she said: The expansion of fiber networks and 5G infrastructure will improve the content delivery process further.

App use by U.S. smartphone owners during Q2 grew 20 minutes a day year-over-year, led by mobile browsing and social networking apps Facebook and TikTok, said Strategy Analytics Tuesday. Games had the biggest share of smartphone minutes, though usage was largely flat. Social media app usage rose 21% and business and finance, including videoconferencing, grew 68%, as users largely worked from home during the pandemic. Browsing app minutes were up 13%, lifestyle 12% and productivity 7%. Time spent using video entertainment apps including YouTube and Netflix declined 12% and 33% “as customers defaulted to other devices with bigger displays” and better user experiences, said the researcher. Smartphone behaviors are shifting as users observe stay-at-home orders and "adapt to new norms as a consequence of COVID-19,” said analyst Nitesh Patel. Apps having strong declines were in transport (44%) and travel and location (35%). Consumers also are meeting communication and entertainment needs with tablets, PCs, games consoles and smart TVs, said analyst Barry Gilbert.

Crown Castle sought FCC emergency authorization for temporary tower projects in Los Angeles and Carlsbad, California. “The projects presented in this request qualify for emergency authorization because each is needed to serve unserved or underserved areas due to COVID-19 effects,” said filings posted Tuesday.